Rs109 billion allocated for HEC budget despite financial challenges

Islamabad: The federal government has allocated Rs.109 billion for the Higher Education Commission (HEC) in the annual budget for the financial year 2022-23 despite serious financial challenges.

According to the budget document, Rs. 65 billion have been allocated for the non-development expenditure of the HEC. Rs. 44 billion have been allocated for the development schemes of the HEC as well.

However, Rs. 108.65 billion had been approved for HEC in FY2021-22, of which Rs. 66.25 billion were for non-development expenditure and Rs. 42.4 billion were for development schemes.

According to the statistics, the HEC’s budget for FY2022-23 has only been increased by a mere 0.3% in comparison to FY 2021-22, which blatantly contradicts the claim of the Finance Ministry.

The Finance Ministry has also approved 5,000 scholarships for talented students from Balochistan and merged tribal districts. A separate scholarship program has been approved for the students from the coastal areas of Balochistan.

The Finance Ministry has also approved to resume Prime Minister’s Laptop Scheme for talented students from all over the country. Separate funds for the provision of state-of-the-art equipment to engineering and technology universities have been approved as well.