Staff Report
Islamabad: All Public Universities BPS Teachers Association (APUBTA) has demanded the federal and provincial governments to give more attention to higher education, especially around 154 public sector universities (PSUs) across the countries. The most of the PSUs in all four provinces, federal capital, Azad Jammu & Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan are faced with grave financial crises due to which the process of imparting higher education is severally affected for the last few years. The federal and provincial governments must allocate at least Rs.400 billion for PSUs in the incoming budget. The federal and provincial governments must sit together and devise a joint strategy to overcome financial problems of PSUs across the country. This was urged in a statement jointly issued by APUBTA president Dr. Sami ur Rehman, General Secretary Dr. Imtiaz Ahmad, Vice President Dr. Rehana Kosar President Punjab Chapter Imtiaz Shafiq, General Sectretary Punjab chapter Dr. Rizwan Ullah Kokab, Dr. Muhammad Iqbal, President Islamabad chapter, Vice President, Islamabad chapter Dr. Manzoor Ahmad, President Kamran Zakria, President Sindh Chapter,
Dr. Zafar Khan, President KP chapter, Dr. Muhammad Jawad, General Secretary KP chapter, said that recurring budget for higher education has not been increased by the federal government since 2018. The expenses of the existing universities, especially old ones, have increased manifold while scores of new universities have also been established across the country in the last seven years. Resultantly, the financial needs to meet recurrent expenses of the PSUs have increased manifold. The failure of the federal government to increase the allocation of budget for higher education and that of provincial government to provide adequate funds for the provincially chartered PSUs have adversally affected the academic and research activities in the universities. The mushroom growth of public and private sector universities and launching of subsiduzed BS programs in government colleges coupled with escalation in tution fee in PSUs have significantly reduced student enrollment in many universities. Due to these factors, PSUs are unable to increase their income, which federal and provincial governments usually suggest to universities to cater to their needs. Due to lack of adequate funds wither from their own sources or grants from federal and provincial governments, a number of universities are unable to pay salaries and pensions to their employees. The university teachers are not even granted a number of allowances that are admissible to employees of other public sector departments. APUBTA leaders deplored on the neglect of higher education especially BPS teachers of PSUs by the federal and provincial governments. It demotivate the university teachers and also adversely affect the process of imparting higher education among the youth, they added.
