Islamabad: PML-Q MNA Marvi Memon will submit a privilege motion against Implementation Commission Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani for what she termed misleading the parliament on the issue of devolution of the Higher Education Commission (HEC).
According to her, the HEC has full legal cover under the 18th Amendment, but Mian Raza Rabbani told the parliament that it has to be devolved to implement the 18th Amendment in its true spirit. “According to legal experts, the HEC has full legal cover under FLL1 and FLL 2, but Mian Raza Rabbani misinterpreted the 18th Amendment and misguided the parliament,” she said.
Marvi Memon was addressing a seminar on ‘Save Education, Save Pakistan’ organised by the Defending HEC Movement here on Tuesday. She said that the HEC was among those few institutions in the country, which were performing well. “The HEC should not be devolved for vested interests rather its federal status should remain intact for the larger interest of the country,” she added.
She criticised the PML-Q leadership for not taking up the issue of HEC seriously. “The PML-Q is not serious in resolving the issue of HEC after becoming part of the government,” she said. She asked the PML-Q leadership to take up the issue of HEC on immediate basis.
Former minister for science and technology Azam Swati on the occasion indicated that a few parliamentarians tried to move a resolution on the HEC in the Senate.
“It is quite surprising for me that despite prime minister’s order and Supreme Court’s verdict, a few parliamentarians were all set to move a resolution on HEC, though they didn’t get a chance to do so,” he said.
He said that it was he who walked out from the parliament last year to protest against the massive budget cut in the HEC and he would continue to extend his support to the HEC in national interest. “The majority of those sitting in the parliament are ‘jahils’ (illiterates) with fake degrees and don’t want to see the HEC in its current status in future,” he said.
He said that a huge amount of Rs80 billion of taxpayers is being spent on the bogus Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), but the government is not ready to pay Rs24 billion for the future of the country. “It is unfortunate that we are spending only 1.2% of GDP on education, but our rulers are not ready to think about it as their stakes are not in this country,” he said.
Qazi Hussain Ahmed on the occasion said that education should be top priority of the government, but unfortunately it has never been the case. “Education is not at all a subject to be devolved to give provincial autonomy as it is a tool to create harmony among people of this country,” he said.
He said that devolving education to provinces would mean that distribution of a nation in four nations. “If the government really wants to give autonomy to provinces then it should distribute resources to provinces not subjects like education,” he said.
Former HEC chairman Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman said that in most federations around the world, including China, Japan, Turkey, Malaysia and South Korea, higher education is a federal subject. India has a UGC with a federal secretary of higher education, United Kingdom has a minister for universities and research, while in Korea the status of deputy prime minister has been given to the minister of higher education.The news
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