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Clearing the education mess
Although good education is not a politician's cup of tea as even a fake degree can do the needful for one's entry into parliament, many parliamentarians posing as champions of higher education are currently supporting the recent move of the government for devolution of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) in Pakistan, 
Mr Right said pointing to a news item 
in the newspaper.
- PUBLISHED: Mon 18 Apr 2011, 9:47 PM UPDATED: Tue 7 Apr 2015, 9:44 AM
“They say the move is in line with the 18th amendment that ensures transfer of education management to provinces but top educationists fear this will harm higher education instead of promoting it,” I said.
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“Contrary to the views expressed by the Supreme Court and senior educationists that higher education and research have been protected by the said amendment,” Mr Right continued. “The supporters of the devolution of HEC accuse their opponents of whipping up a ‘storm in a teacup’.”
“But the student community feels that the move is an effort to bring the commission’s tasks under the control of political leadership and grant scholarships under a sort of Benazir Benefit Scheme instead of an open merit system followed so far,” I pointed out. “The students, therefore, are apprehensive about the government’s intention.”
“Another reason for the dissolution of HEC at the federal level seems to be the ‘exorbitant’ cost of higher education,” Mr Right guessed. “In a TV talk show, Zahid Khan, an ANP leader, expressed his displeasure over a very high salary being paid to the HEC chief. He was right.
Why an official of only one organisation should be pampered so much? With the HEC’s devolution there will be an opportunity to offer fat salaries to officials of four such bodies.”
“The ‘father of the 18th amendment’, Raza Rabbani who was the head of the 27-member Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms, has indicated that a new Standards of Higher Education Commission would replace the HEC,” I said. “That’s good news indeed because the new body will be tasked with raising the standard of its functions and stop indulging in such mean acts as digging the fake degrees of honourable members of parliament.”
“Despite the government’s promise of honest efforts to promote higher education in the country and ensure smooth flow of funds to universities and research institutes, Dr Atta-ur- Rahman, the former head of HEC and the architect of the existing higher education system, has warned that the devolution would affect Pakistan’s standing and make its academic degrees suspect in the world market,” Mr Right stressed.
“I think nobody should worry about that because we Pakistanis have a reputation of setting our own standards in every field,” I said. “The new higher education body will probably meet the higher expectations of the smaller provinces by increasing their number of scholarships on the basis of political loyalties and affiliations instead of following the merit criterion alone.”
“But I will never approve this kind of policy for the higher education commission which should serve as the guardian of standards of education and not as an agent of subversion,” Mr Right said fuming.
“It’s an idealistic approach,” I argued. “But you should remember that many of our leaders like Zahid Khan perhaps feel that spending too much money on higher education will not serve the purpose of development because armies of foreign trained scholars and PhDs can not be used as fertilisers to increase farm production.”
“I know that Pakistan is an agricultural country and it needs more farming experts but it doesn’t mean you don’t need good doctors, engineers, scientists, economists and other competent professionals,” Mr Right explained. “In fact, the country first of all needs to have highly educated leaders to clear the mess.”
I laughed. “This is asking for the moon, Sir. The higher education commission can not promise any such thing.”
“I know,” Mr Right agreed. “They cannot be blamed because it’s our primary and high school system that has failed to produce good future leaders.”
“Schools exist in our country because there wouldn’t be a season of holidays and summer or winter vacation without them,” I said.
“No wonder, radicals in upcountry resorted to destroy schools in their area,” Mr Right remarked.
Najmul Hasan Rizvi is a former Assistant Editor of Khaleej Times