ISLAMABAD, Oct 9 (INP): The President and Secretary General Federation of all Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA) Dr. Waheed Chaudhry and Dr. Kaleemullah Berach in their joint statement have appreciated the Punjab government for establishing provincial Higher Education Commission in order to strengthen and meet the growing needs of higher education sector in the province. They extended thanks to the Punjab government for fulfilling the demand of FAPUASA as representative body of universities’ faculty.
Terming the establishment of provincial higher education set up a positive step towards improving higher education in the country, they demanded that other provincial governments should also expedite the process for establishment of provincial higher education commissions on immediate basis in order to strengthen higher education throughout the country. They said that on the request of provincial governments, Council of Common Interest (CCI) , in its meeting held in May 2011 decided that the financing of provincial universities and population welfare would be the responsibility of federal government till next NFC Award which is due in near future. As the universities are already under the administrative control of the provincial governments, the provincial governments should also realize their financial responsibilities as well.
They emphasized over the provincial governments to expedite the process for establishment of provincial higher education set ups so that governance and financial matters related to higher education sector issues may be resolved in effective and efficient way at the provincial level. They urged federal and provincial governments to allocate 25% of total education budget to higher education as per international standards.
They stated that in the light of 18th constitutional amendment, the federal government should allocate the development funds as per the provincial share prescribed in National Finance Commission (NFC) award. Under the new formula of current NFC award, approximately 51.74% of shares were directed to Punjab; 24.55% to Sindh; 14.62% to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; and 9.09% to Balochistan Province. They demanded that federal government allocations should be according to this agreed formula.
INP/AH/LK
