O ver 5,000 professors to protest against revision of HEC ’s fund polic y

ISLAMABAD G h u l a m a b b a s

As the sudden revision of fund policy by Higher Education Commission (HEC) has put a question mark over the future of professors of public sector universities, over 5000 teachers including Assistant Professors Associate Professors and Professors have decided to stage protests in Islamabad on March 15 2023

Dr Noman Khan Information secretary of All Pakistan Tenure Track Faculty Association (APTTA) a representative body of Tenure Track System (TTS) faculty across Pakistan has informed that here on Saturday that the association has decided to gather outside Higher Education Commission (HEC) on March 15, 2023 to protest against the HEC s new policy which according to the professors would ultimately ruin their future

Through the new funding policy HEC has informed all universities it will not be able to fund any new TTS program while capping the funding for existing TTS faculty which too merged with the recurrent budget of universities The HEC has cited financial /grants constraints as the reason behind damaging its own indigenous program of TTS started in 2003, under which the highly qualified PhD teachers were given attractive packages in public universities while shouldering a considerable portion of salary and perks of these teachers As compared to the basic pay scale (BPS) system the recruited faculty under TTS were considered a successful program of HEC in terms of promoting research development and advanced studies in the universities As per the association non-rhythmic myopic and irrational policies of HEC have become a challenge for the university teachers who were meant to solve the country s issues through the production of scholars in diverse socioeconomic fields

As a result of the HEC s new notification the local management at universities has started putting their policies into practice while stopping new hiring on TTS The universities management are now telling those who have already been hired to switch from TTS to the pay scales proposed by different universities A state of unrest among the faculty is prevailing because the new pay scales will compromise TTS annual increments performance-based increments and performance-based honorarium APTTA informs that recent TTS funding policy notifications from HEC have confirmed the idea that the commission has stopped caring about higher education and is now just watching as higher education in the country falls apart because they are no longer going to patronize the TTS a system that was introduced promoted and is now demoted by HEC itself APTTA which is an association of PhD doctors serving in universities all over the country, has asked HEC to review these notifications and make viable and productive policies After the notification was made public, the countrywide university management came up with their own opinions about what it meant and began working on policies to convert the TTS faculty to some questionable pay scales so that HEC’s malignant designs could be carried out This is because most of the policies made by the current chairman of HEC and his team are based on hypothetical arguments that are made up without thinking about how they will affect higher education in the country or what the worst effects will be for our beloved country President APTTA Dr Yasar Shah said

He has also warned HEC to withdraw this notification or else university teachers will be knocking on HEC s doors to wake up their sleeping consciences and minds

According to him the worst form of an adversary appears when your protector becomes your detractor The same is being done by Chairman HEC and his incompetent team for the devolution of higher education in Pakistan, a country where economic turmoil has already endangered the economic existence of the state H e a n n o u n c e d t h a t i n c e s s a n t d emo n s tr atio n s an d s it- in s w ill b e s tag ed o u t s i d e H E C o n We d n e s d a y M a r c h 1 5 2 0 2 3 a n d w i l l c o n t i n u e u n t i l H E C w i t h d r a w t h e c u r r e n t n o t i f i c a t i o n s a n d e n s u r e t o i s s u e f u t u r e n o t i f i c a t i o n s i n consultation with APTTA

S O L U T I O N S

Fi n a n C e Minister ishaq dar ’s press conference on Friday left observers nonplussed because it did not contain any new announcement the lack of new information made it painfully obvious that Senator dar who had been inducted in the Federal Cabinet so that he would tame the inflation genie lacks any clue about what to do about the economic problem that Pakistan faces it will not cut it to say that the economy was doing well back in 2023, and that the Pti under imran Khan messed it up that underlying can be considered accepted when the reasoning for the PMl(n) being entrusted with the government, and it was reiterated by Senator dar s appointment as Finance Minister Perhaps most damning is that amidst all the turning over of past laurels there was no indication of the government’s future plans two things are causing much uncertainty, over and above the horrendous inflation figures First, there is no clarity on the iMF programme Senator dar ’s assurance that an agreement is about to be reached is only given credence as far as the listener is willing to believe Previous assurances came with as much assurance, and so far have not been fulfilled the other thing is uncertainty about where the rupee and hence future inflation is heading attempts to minimize the level of inflation are both wrongheaded and callous Core inflation is now twice what it was in 2008, when last the country faced a crisis of such magnitude one of the main problems that country is now facing is that it no longer believes Senator dar there may be some dispute over whether he is deliberately trying to misguide, or is simply out of touch with reality, but no one believes him the problem is that panic is beginning to set in this will lead to skewed economic decision-making at the micro-level of individual businesses and households When that happens, such events as a run on the banks, or the setting in of hyper-inflation, start to happen What is also beginning to cause concern is the silence of the Prime Minister Statements by the Finance Minister or the State Bank Governor will no longer suffice to calm the markets the head of the government must step up and take the nation into confidence if he is trying to escape the political fallout he should be aware that his silence will not win him immunity