Sindh universities turn dry, look towards premier for fiscal help

Sindh’s public sector universities have been mired in a financial swamp, and thus the vice chancellors of these institutions, which now have grown in large numbers as high as 29 in the province, have nothing but to look towards the chief executive of the country—the prime minister—who they believe would come for their rescue.
Sindh’s public sector universities have long been squeezed by the financial crunch and have been trying to generate revenue to run the institutions, but still, there are many that are still unable to pay the salaries to their staffers in time. Let alone the funds for laboratories and other requisites, the worst case is that the employees of a few institutions have been receiving salaries in installments.
Given the situation, a number of 29 vice chancellors have written to the prime minister for help, which they believe may begin with restoring recurring grants, which they say have remained almost frozen for the last six years.
The letter says: we, the Vice Chancellors of Public Sector Universities of Sindh, are writing to you to express our serious concern on the stoppage of federal government grant to provincially chartered universities of Pakistan including 29 public sector universities of Sindh province.
The Federal Government through HEC provides over Rs.13 billion as a recurring grant to the universities of Sindh, which is almost frozen from 2018 onwards. ‘We, after you become the Prime Minister of Pakistan of this great country, were hoping that the government under your leadership will take necessary measures to strengthen and support the universities and higher education along with the improvements which your government has started bringing in other sectors.’
Addressing the prime minister they write: you are kindly aware that returns to investment in education are higher than the investments in any other sector. Nations, that have progressed or whose progress is at faster rates have invested in education and higher education. China, Korea, Malaysia, India, and many other countries in the region are examples of it. Besides, looking at the current scenario of financial crises in Pakistan, a wise decision would be to enhance investment in education, especially in higher and technical education. This would quickly bear fruit.
The public sector universities in Pakistan are providing access to higher education to bright minds from poor and lower-income families. These students cannot self-finance their cost of education, thus, raising fees to that level is not an option. The multifold increase in student fees will create a risk of youth unrest and agitation which the country cannot afford at this stage.
Furthermore, the Council of Common Interest (CCI) has also already decided that the federal government would fund the recurring as well as development expenditures of the universities till the next NFC. The Council of Common Interest considered the Summary on “Funding for the Devolved Organizations/Institutions/Departments and Projects of Defunct Ministries /Divisions beyond 30th June 2011” vide Case No. CCI: 7/2/2011, dated 28-04-2011, and decided as under: “The Council approved the financing for the current expenditure of Universities hitherto would be picked by the Federal Government till the period of current NFC Award. Federal Government would during this period also pick up the development expenditure of the Universities depending upon the resources available with the Federal Government.”
Besides, The Presidential Ordinance No. LI of 2002 (HEC Ordinance 2002) also clearly mentions the funding as the responsibility of the federal government, which is further Page 2 of 4 substantiated by the CCI and 7th NFC event after the 18th Constitutional Amendment (mentioned above).
In view of the above and given the severity of the situation, it is humbly requested that urgent instructions may kindly be passed to the Finance Division to restore and enhance the federal grants to the universities of Pakistan including the public sector universities of Sindh province and provide the funds based on the need determined by HEC Islamabad and Finance Division jointly or at least Rs.16 billion to the universities of Sindh so that they don’t default.