Monday, June 18, 2012

Higher Education on Trial



Prosecutors
Sen. Mian Raza Rabbani and others representing Parliament of Pakistan and other non-parliamentary political parties of Pakistan.


Defendants
Dr. Atta-ur-Rehman, Dr. Javed Laghari, Dr. Sohail Naqvi, Vice-chancellors of all Pakistani universities and students.


Jury
180 million Pakistanis


Judge
N/A





Case for the Prosecution:


Exhibit 1
Degrees of a large portion of parliamentarians belonging to almost all political parties of Pakistan were declared fake even though the people wanted these people to represent them irrespective of their degrees.


Exhibit 2
A large portion of public money was going to Higher Education Commission (HEC). In principle, this money should have been spent according to the wishes of the parliament through programmers like Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) or other popular measures which would increase the voters’ base for the current government.


Exhibit 3
HEC was working against the national interests by spoiling the country’s youth by giving them access to higher education. A sensitive and delicate matter like higher education should be the exclusive domain of the country’s elite. Also HEC tried to eliminate the natural divide between the poor and the rich as a middle class student from a far-off area of Pakistan was able to study in the same university as the urban rich class.


Exhibit 4
HEC tried to reverse the brain drain thus ensuring that qualified people would be sitting on seats of authority in different Pakistani institutes. This was a recipe for disaster as this would eliminate chances of corruption, which is the lifeline of our politics.


Exhibit 5
Dealing directly with international donors and universities thus decreasing chances of any commissions which is the bread and butter of our politicians.


Exhibit 6
As HEC is remnant of a dictator, it has to go.


Witness 1
Jamshed Dasti – a respectable citizen of Pakistan and after proved fake, was elected by his people with a 55000 vote.


Witness 2
Aslam Raisani who is Chief Minister of the largest province of Pakistan. The most famous quote of the 21st century "degree is a degree whether genuine or fake" is his creation.


Witness 3
Babar Awan - who was robbed of his "legal" Ph.D degree due to HEC as University of Monte Cello was not authorized to issue such a degree.





Case for the Defence:
Exhibit 7
Due to efforts of HEC, number of Ph.D produced doubled in the last 8 years as compared to the first 55 years after independence.


Exhibit 8
Surge in the number of Universities, number of publications and research.


Exhibit 9
A number of universities are now among the top 500 in the world.


Exhibit 10
Almost 5000 scholars are pursuing Ph.D abroad while similar numbers are doing it in Pakistan.


Exhibit 11
Increase in salaries for researchers and professors, thus giving a sense of security as well as respectability to the profession that it deserves.


Exhibit 12
Establishment of Digital Library and broadband internet connectivity to universities which gives access to thousands of online journals and books thus facilitating research activity.


Exhibit 13
Stringent conditions for degrees and streamlining the process of equivalence as well as attestation thus giving international respectability to Pakistani degrees.

Verdict: To be announced by the People of Pakistan






(P.S. This is an old post. In fact, this was the post with which our blog debuted on April 12, 2011. But last week the government is again trying to end HEC autonomy so I have posted it again.)

20 comments:

  1. i think they have deferred it until 2014...lets hope some sense prevail....

    ReplyDelete
  2. Its the time when we all should get serious about our nation or else we will be facing the consequences later !
    Good write up..
    im so going to follow you now..
    maybe you can follow mine too?
    funandyoungs.blogspot.com
    (im the pne who wrote about career planning though )

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. the problem is that 60 percent of the people dont bother to vote while the remaining 40 percent do not value their votes and we end up here :(
      thanks for visiting and commenting :) hahahha...yes i remember you are the one who wrote on careen planning :P thanks for following our blog :)

      Delete
  3. Israr
    the issue is realy serious bcz most of are govt. officers r supporting govt. in this act, last week i was getting traning in an institution and there was a lady who was delivering lecture, she is a csp officer... we were having discussion about that issue, one of us praised dr. ata ul rehman at his efforts, she replyed that u should ask dr. ata why the 50 scholars didnt come back to Pak who doing P.HD from foreign countries on govt. scholarships? she said no one come back who go abroad

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. well i think those who went abroad on hec scholarship and now are not coming back are only showing their character and worth... this is the taxpayers money of this poor nation and if the educated phds dont value it then why should we complain about our fake degree holders parliamentarians? this is the sad thing... i think HEC should have given these sholarship locally or maybe they could have hired foreign professors as usually 1 crore rupees is the average cost per phd student gone abroad...
      but one should not throw the baby with the bath water... HEC has done a lot of commendable things and for this reason HEC must stay as it as... improvements can always be made but not by the illiterate parliamentarians who have fake degrees...

      thanks for reading and liking :)

      Delete
  4. Hello Israr.
    How are you my friend?
    Will be interesting to see what happens. Thanks for sharing.

    I have some good news for you...you have been selected as one of the Featured Followers! of the week. To learn more and to claim your award, if you so choose, please click here...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Andy,

      thanks for reading and commenting... I have claimed the pic... and have posted it on my blog :) thank you so much...

      Delete
  5. Why there's always some drama keep on happening when it comes to education n health in both of our countries :O
    why cant just they act out of wisdom and well being..
    Nice post though..
    its good u shared it again

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hahaha..may be they think we are the most educated and healthiest nations on the earth :) i think sensitive tasks like edu and health should not be given to politicians... thank you for reading and commenting after a long time :) have a nice week ahead :)

      Delete
  6. Over here, Education is big business. Nobody bothers about the quality of education being imparted. People either seem to want the job-security or they want more money. There was a time when education was considered sacred and kept out of commercial interests (At least, it was better than what it is, today). I can tell you one thing - Getting a degree by mugging up, cramming and memorizing is the same as getting a fake degree.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. absolutely true... when education was sacred, people used to have the utmost respect for teachers (gurus) and schools... but today teachers have one of the lowest respect values in the society :( in the old days it was education that was important...even kings would try to hire the best minds in the state to tutor the princes and princesses but today degrees are more important... sigh...

      Delete
  7. In Pakistan, the feudalism is the main hampering force that plays a major negative role for keeping the vast majority illiterate.
    That encourages the fake degrees scenario as one of the factors.
    Politics in Pakistan is going through a foul play phase.
    The current ruling elite is taking the best revenge through fake politics aimed at putting the country on liquidition sale . Ali Baba 40 thieves are being backed by the "anti Pak elements" from within or from outside.
    How would people of Pakistan announce a verdict due to their non participation in voting or voting under pressure.
    People need be educated politically to deliver a verdict.
    Yes we have to control brain drain but there are other issues to be taken care of first___

    Israr--you have put good ideas and I like your mysterious style---keep it up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. sir,,thanks for reading and liking..

      education means awareness, light and eqaulity..feudalism means darkness, injustice and slavery... so they are mutually exclusive... the feudal mindset never wants the masses to get education...i am talking about the mindset and not the persons..of course there are a lot of feudal lords who have donated a large sum of their estate to education and schools etc...

      and hail the prince...bilawal.. :) in my opinion this is the most cruel joke being played on the intelligence of 180 millions pakistanis...i hope they show some grey matter and stand up to this nonsense...

      happy new year...

      Delete
  8. that is cent percent true what going on with HEC. The reason for ths is feudalism based authoritative personals.
    V.good write up !
    Keep writing and shairing.
    Best wishez.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thanks for reading and liking :)

      yes you pointed this right... being a teacher you are better informed :)

      happy new year...

      Delete
  9. Such things can be expected from these UNPARH scholars(fake degree holders).
    But still I am wondering how can they interfere in such highly wisdom decision which is beyond their minds.

    exellent post bro

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thanks bro for reading and liking... i can bet 90 percent of our legislators would not know what HEC means and how it is spelled! our misfortune :(

      Delete
  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  11. postingan yang bagus tentang Higher Education on Trial

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