Educationists including vice chancellors (VC) of different universities condemned the Rs 6.5 billion low budget allocated for higher education for the year 2011-12.

Government College University (GCU) Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Ikramul Haq said that the Punjab government had focused more on the primary and secondary education sectors in the budget, neglecting the allocation of budget for higher education.

He said that Rs 1.5 billion increase in budget was not sufficient since a major part of the budget is fixed for research purposes, adding that the grant for university education should be increased every year.

Meanwhile, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) VC Professor Dr Muhammad Nawaz said that after the government’s decision of HEC’s devolution a few months ago, the federal government had halted provision of development funds, which caused a lot of problems for the new and smaller universities.

The provincial government had announced Rs 23.9 billion for all education sectors, including primary and secondary schools, higher education departments, special education and literacy departments. Around Rs 14.5 billion were allocated for the School Education Department, Rs 6.5 billion for higher education, around Rs 500 million for special education and Rs 800 million for literacy development. There had been a total increase of Rs 0.6 billion in the education budget as compared to the last year’s budget. Daily times