Govt urged to repeal Ordinance about HEC’s autonomy

LAHORE:Representatives of different civil society organisations, including lawyers on Monday demanded the government to repeal the Presidential Ordinance vis-a-vis the Higher Education Commission (HEC) in order to restore the Commission’s autonomy.

Speaking at a press conference at Lahore Press Club, South Asia Partnership Pakistan Executive Director M Tahseen, member CC Asia-Europe Peoples Forum (AEPF) Farooq Tariq and others observed that the federal government through a Presidential Ordinance decided to formally end HEC’s autonomy and bring it under subordination of the Ministry of Education.

They added that the Higher Education Amendment Ordinance issued on 26 March 2021; reduced the employment period of HEC’s Chairman from 4 years to 2 years, with the added stipulation that he would cease to hold office forthwith. Immediately after making it public, a notification to terminate the services of the current Chairman was issued.

Soon after taking this decision, the government discovered both the Ordinance and the notification were full of legal flaws and the second notification was issued on 5 April, 2021 and the second amendment ordinance was promulgated on 8 April, 2021.

They observed that the government's actions appeared to be ill-conceived and expressed its malafide intentions. These actions have led to compromise on merit, transparency, the standards of education, rights of students, opportunities of development and have also undermined the integrity of the country, globally. They said that the HEC was established as an autonomous body in 2002 to promote quality education in the country and added that abolishing its autonomy and placing HEC under the Ministry of Education further deteriorated HEC’s position and effectiveness. The speakers observed that the country was already facing many issues and the Presidential Ordinances could further add to these problems and destabilise the situation in the country. They said in democracies the new legislation or amendments to laws were done through Parliamentary deliberations and public representatives do this business through mutual discussions and consensus but this amended law was presented before Parliament after three days of its issuance which was a blatant violation of parliamentary and democratic norms.

The speakers alleged that the government policies had damaged the education system. It not only reduced funds for higher education but also appointed non-professional individuals on higher education positions, they alleged. Such actions are a direct attack on the autonomy of HEC and other educational institutions, they added.