Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA) has appealed Prime Minister Imran Khan to look into the budgetary cuts of higher education and revert the decision, pressing him to allocate funds per the demands of the HEC.
According to a press release, in a letter written to the prime minister and members of the federal cabinet, FSPUASA President Dr Mahboob Hussain and others conveyed the apprehensions raised by the teaching community, stating that the budgetary cuts would put the progress of the higher education at stake. They added that the cuts would compel the HEC to shut down a number of programmes and such policies would take the education sector back to the Stone Age.
The letter observed that the government during elections 2018 promised to give top priority to the education sector and hence there were many hopes from the PTI-led government to support as well as boost the workings of the higher education sector.
FAPUASA leaders said budget of the sector should be increased, however, the government had massively decreased the budget, allocating just Rs58 billion against HEC’s request of Rs103 billion. They said if the government would continue with the budgetary cuts, development and research initiatives would suffer, affecting the achievements and stature of the education, internationally.
