Karachi —While about 50 degrees of the elected representatives in the House of legislation verified by Higher Education Commission under the instructions of the Supreme Court were found invalid, some 250 degrees held by the parliamentarians are yet to be verified.This was stated by Dr. Attaur Rahman President of Pakistan Academy of Sciences and former Chairman of Higher Education Commission (HEC) at a crowded Press Conference here Friday evening. He was accompanied by Barrister Shahida Jamil former minister of education and other senior members of “Save HEC” which is in the process of devolution under 18th amendment of the Constitution.
“Regarding verification of the degrees of the parliamentarians, Dr. Attaur Rahman said that HEC committee had sent three reminders to the Election Commission of Pakistan for verification of the degrees of the remaining parliamentarians, however, no response was received. He regretted that instead of appreciating the world class contributions of the HEC for the cause of quality education, this autonomous body is being thrown into segmentation which would be stalling growth of Higher Education in Pakistan.Dr. Attaur Rahman pointed out that the World Bank and USAID have stopped funding of $300 million and $252 million respectively allocated for Higher Education scholarships of students engaged in PhD studies. Since HEC is an autonomous body its devolution under 18th Amendment is not justified.
A significant majority of the functions performed by the HEC are Constitutionally Federal in nature. Research is also a Federal Subject in the Constitution. 80% of the Research in Pakistan occurs in Universities which are Pakistan’s premier research institutions. Research is interdisciplinary and inter-provincial in nature. research is supported by the HEC through scholarships, research grants, travel grants, conference supports etc. Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman told the media. In most Federations around the world, Higher Education is a Federal Subject (India has UGC with a Federal Secretary of Higher Education, UK has a Minister for Universities and Research; Malaysia, Turkey, Egypt, Indonesia, South Korea, Japan, China, all treat Higher Education as a Federal subject. In Korea they had given the status of a Deputy Prime Minister to their Minister of Higher Education.
Defiance of Supreme Court Decision Regarding Verification of Degrees of Parliamentarians: The Supreme Court of Pakistan had given the responsibilities to Higher Education Commission to verify the degrees of all Parliamentarians. With the devolution of the Higher Education Commission, this body will no longer be able to fulfill:the orders of the Supreme Court.
It is understood that a new organization (a Commission for Standard Higher Education) is being created under the Cabinet Division for verification of degrees ‘.
This will mean that degree verification will now not be carried out by an independent autonomous’ body such as HEC, but by an organization working directly under the Cabinet Division. This represents a direct confrontation with the Supreme Court of Pakistan and amounts to a contempt of court.
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