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Quality education matters! Reality in Pakistan? Higher Education Commission demands it, private and public sector universities in Pakistan strives for it. Directors and head of departments and higher officials running the universities claim this. But until now the expected healthy benefits of education in higher education institutes are not being realized. One of my colleagues in university used to best describe this situation that “wow” factor is not coming, and I have realized even after many years that factor is still missing! Okay let’s put this on a side. Students on one side and university lecturers on other side. Students are naïve and empty vessels teachers fill them with what they want to fill them with. They pour their knowledge into them and carefully craft them to get them placed where they are highly valued. Coming to the fact, neither the students are having necessary skills to compete the market now neither lecturer have that zeal and spirit for such craftsmanship. Why? Many factors! One most important factor I want to highlight is Salary and compensation that university lecturer is getting right now. Much less even to meet their household expenses! Are universities such business entities that take care of their revenues only and not taking care of their human resources?

In a letter issued by Higher Education Commission on 26-January-2017 to all universities in Pakistan, minimum qualification regarding appointment of lecturers has been raised to the level of M.Phil/MS equivalent to 18 years of education but no circular has been released regarding raise in salaries for such lecturers. What quality of education, we can expect from lecturers who have been bombarded with 5 courses to teach as their workload and expecting quality of teaching and transparency from them. I have personally experienced this; many private universities have been practicing such malpractice and at the end fill the lecturer’s pockets with 60,000 or maybe 70,000. The teaching profession has been considered top-notch and well reputable as societies anywhere in the world are reformed and nations are developed by them. What we are giving them is questionable and we are intentionally lowering the morale of teachers. That’s why university teachers, I would rather say, so called torchbearers of higher education are still getting to universities on motor bikes and students are on their cars. This is not about challenging the income level of students or their parents affording, rather to highlight the importance of income disparity that our university lecturers are facing that they can’t even afford car even after their 10 or maybe 15 years of teaching experience and what about buying the house for them? A long story! Public universities who have good budgets and resources, conditions are little good but not as much as they should be. I have friends working in public universities but still earning less than or just equal to Rs100,000 even after their 10 years of teaching experience.

World-salaries, a database that publish information about average salaries for almost 221 countries and 3628 different jobs state the average lecturer salary in Pakistan for 2024 is Rs54,933 monthly. Looking into the hiring criteria for lecturers by universities through Ads and scrolling through their websites, almost similar figures have been observed as Lecturer Salary with 3-5 years of experience. In a recent report published by International Trade Administration (ITA) US database, on 12-Jan-2024, there are more than 200 universities in Pakistan providing higher education to students and according to Pakistan economic survey 2019-2020, 65% non-PhD faculty members i.e. Lecturers or junior lecturers have been working in Pakistan universities. Also, the list published in 2017-2018 by Higher Education Commission for full time faculty members working in Pakistan universities I have calculated and analyzed the percentage of non-PhD faculty members working in universities in Pakistan ranges from 56% to 80% approx. This suggests that the huge contribution towards higher education is being made by lecturers. On the other side, if we investigate the salaries paid to them to compensate for their services are far less as mentioned above. The interesting thing is there are no such minimum criteria of lecturers pay scale mentioned anywhere on the Higher Education Commission website. Moreover, given the pride that doing teaching job at university carries, does this salary seem justifiable for keeping the lecturer morale high? especially when others having the same level of experience earn high teaching in different good colleges and schools. The answer is definite No! As per my survey and experience, lecturers are not satisfied with their current pay, and the least salaries are far less even top ranked universities by Higher Education Commission pays on hiring. Consequently, it has become just a job for them as a way of getting out of unemployment and hence, they don’t teach with due vigor and passion. The quality of teaching is not reaching its standard pace as affected by less salaries of course and in turn students’ skills are not produced as expected to compete in the market. Surprisingly, this circle is continuously going on and completely unnoticed by Higher Education Commission. Are they just getting old just to see their students having good job positions at good pay scales and they have no right to have their own best lifestyle they wish and deserve?! Why Higher Education Commission is silent on this? They arrange lucrative visits to universities, set evaluation criteria for universities, impose policies and regulations towards their operations. As a regulatory authority in Pakistan, why Higher Education Commission has still not imposed raised salary criteria for universities to must pay to lecturers when hiring them. Universities are earning much higher revenues but when it comes to pay the handsome salaries to lecturers they deserve and when it comes to increase their salaries, universities remain silent on this matter. Faculty members then have no choice except to continue their work and wait for a good time but that never comes. Resultantly, when faculty members are not properly compensated, they will decrease the quality of their teaching intentionally as retaliation.

In Higher Education Commission Vision 2025 report, it says “Higher Education Commission plans to implement a process of developing human capital that is not only professionally outstanding and competent but ethically committed to creating a just and democratic social order”. My question is whether Higher Education Commission is doing justice with lecturers? Do we think human capital will be committed on ethical grounds this way? Certainly No! and such situation spreads disharmony and dissatisfaction at the end and they are merely unmet hollow expectations that look good in books only having nothing to do with reality. Moreover, in the 77 pages long report, nothing has been discussed in the form of Higher Education Commission strategies or Higher Education Commission efforts regarding pay scales and salaries raise for the faculty members, especially the university lecturers. Summing up, if you will not give them what they deserve then the whole future generation will be ruined. There has been notion undoubtedly and unarguably said that teaching is a noble profession, and teachers should work for this noble cause with their inner motivation and passion. But it has always been perceived and implemented mistakenly. It shouldn’t mean that teachers should be deprived of the good economic and financial benefits they deserve. I am not talking about respect for teachers here (may open new debate) that unfortunately is from minimal to zero in our universities in Pakistan. Now if you would say it’s the teacher’s fault, why don’t they put their utmost efforts and devotion for such a noble cause. Then, I would suggest higher education commission should stop taking salaries and universities should stop getting fees from students so that noble causes get distributed equally among the so-called stakeholders of higher education. Only then they will know what is important and why! Importantly, if universities continue exploiting the lecturers less salaries parallel with over capacitated workload, then the time is not that far when lecturers’ morale, teaching standards and whole education system would ultimately collapse. And Higher Education Commission will be left as a standing statue of Liberty then, holding merely the slogan of Education and nothing else!

This is the “Right Time” to act.

Muhammad Shahbaz

School of Economics,

Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China.

Email: muhdshahbaz77@gmail.com

Muhammad Kashif

School of Economics,

Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China

Email: mkash.kashif@gmail.com