ISLAMABAD: The Senate Functional Committee on Devolution recommended that retirement age of university teachers should be extended to 65 years and they must be given a tax rebate of 75 percent.
The committee discussed a public petition by All Pakistan Teachers Association regarding the implementation of 18th Amendment in the higher education sector confining role of federal HEC to formulation of standards and enhancing legitimate role of provincial governments specially in funding and implementation of the higher education policy. They claimed that HEC was encroaching on their rights since the subject was now devolved and the federal HEC had no right to interfere in their matters.
HEC chairman along with vice-chancellor of government sector universities from all provinces attended the meeting and submitted their response on the said agenda. They told the committee that HEC was cooperating with universities and looking after the matters after the devolution of powers. The HEC chairman briefed the committee and assured that the only intervention that the HEC does is in matters of maintaining the standards and quality of the education on national level.
The secretary cabinet division informed the committee about the recent CCI meeting and said that prime minister has designed a special task force under the chairmanship of the federal minister for education to take prompt action on demarcating the boundaries between the provincial and federal HEC.