Wajeha Khan
Mphil Scholar
Hazara University Mansehra.
KPK is home to more than 40 plus recognized Higher Education Institutions approximately 500,000 or 5lac students are enrolled in these universities according to HEC statistical data .It is comprising of 34 public sector Universities , 8 Private Universities among them 3 are Women Universities which are operating here in KpK. (i.e Benazir Bhutto Women University Peshawar, Women University Swabi and Woman University Mardan.) Compared to the other progressive provinces of Pakistan like Punjab and Sindh , the quality of both teaching and research is far more poorer in KPK. . Most universities suffer from financial crisis, ,lab equipments , classrooms technologies ,unstocked and outdated libraraies thus leaving less budget for research facilities. Moreover, the students protests on high fee structures, administrative protests and faculty protests on delayed salaries and pension issues are also a massive problems and the number of faculty members are also decreasing day by day in number. The examination system in KPK Universities is just a mere tests of memory.Besides, The students area of discipline is unsupervised and in some universities the actual number of teaching days in a year adds up to less than half the officially required number.
Furthermore,in these universities “teaching” is just a mere dictation of notes which that teacher had copied down when he/she was a student in the same department.The clear picture of Higher Education System in KPK Pakistan universities experience severe difficulty in financial constraints with outdated curricula, poor governance, that is far most disconnected from the global industry standards. Essential remedies include increasing budgetary investments, restructuring institutional governance to ensure meritocracy, modernizing syllabi and shifting from rote learning towards technical skill enhancement and practical research. The other critical challenges, include severe budget crisis, political interference in administration, and inadequate infrastructure. To remedy this, the province must increase targeted educational funding, enforce strict merit-based hiring, modernize syllabi, and restrict political activities on campus . The unwarranted political influence frequently compromise meritocracy, leading to administrative mismanagement and a decline in institutional autonomy .Insufficient public investment limits the ability of institutions to expand scholarships, retain qualified Ph.D. faculty, and to maintain campuses autonomy.
And for research progress, International conferences, seminars and workshops be arranged in universities for students but the hurdle is that NOC or no objection certificates is required for such seminars which are to be approved internally from university from VC and Dean and externally from Interior Ministry ,HEC or government and regulatory bodies. These regulatory bodies delays and rejects and donot allow foreign speakers because of security , geopolitical sensitivity and controversial ideological alignment. They say that KPK is remote area and we have to arrange bullet proof vehicle for foreign Professors for their security and due to other rigid state bureaucracy orders concerns create hurdles. Remedies are to modernize curriculum with emerging technologies , and shift to application based assessments and to adopt cross cultural teaching methodologies. So, to conclude this discussion universities should strictly enforce merit based appointments for university leadership ( i.e Vice Chancellor,Deans) and minimizing political interference in academic affairs for reforms in Higher Education in this province.
