ISLAMABAD: At least Rs91 billion will be released to the Higher Education Commission (HEC) this year for promoting research activities and higher education in Pakistan.
The State Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Balighur Rehman apprised the National Assembly about the amount, while answering several questions regarding the matter, on Wednesday.
The minister, while replying to various supplementary questions said the government had released Rs42 billion to the HEC last year, in addition to Rs41 billion the year before.
Rehman said that the HEC had elaborate capacity-building programmes for staff of the universities.
The courses organised by the HEC are of international standard, he added.
The minister said the HEC periodically developed, reviewed, and prescribed uniform curricula for undergraduate and graduate programmes in universities across Pakistan.
He said those curricula were developed through the National Curriculum Review Committees (NCRC) comprising representatives from universities, professional councils, civil society, and other important stakeholders.
Answering a question, the minister said that up till now curricula for 120 disciplines had been developed apart from carrying out revisions of 308 curricula.
The curriculum is reviewed and revised after every three years, he added.
The minister said some 12,304 non-formal Basic Education Community Schools (BECS) were functioning across Pakistan.
Giving the breakup, he said as many as 5,687 BECS were set up in Punjab, 1,674 in Sindh, 1,399 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), 607 in Balochistan, 1,061 in the Fata, 1,425 in Gilgit-Baltistan, 203 in the AJK, and 248 in the federal capital.
Notwithstanding, some 131 BECS in the Fata were temporarily closed due to the military operation in south and north Waziristan agencies.
