Sindh Boosts Higher Education Budget to 30 Billion Rupees, Exceeds Federal Allocation
In a major development, the Sindh government has announced an increase in its higher education budget for the fiscal year 2024-25, raising it from 22 billion rupees to 30 billion rupees. This boost means Sindh’s higher education budget will now exceed the federal allocation.
The Sindh Higher Education Commission has submitted its proposal to Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah. With this increase, the budget for Sindh’s higher education surpasses the Federal Higher Education Commission’s budget, which is being reduced from 65 billion rupees to 25 billion rupees.
A vice-chancellor involved in the budget planning told Jang that Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah understands the financial needs of the province’s universities. This awareness led to the decision to increase the budget from 22 billion to 30 billion rupees. The situation has become critical because the Federal Higher Education Commission will not be providing any budget to the provinces this year.
Last year, Sindh’s universities received 13 billion rupees from federal funds, which will not be available this year. Therefore, the Sindh government must further increase its budget to cover the shortfall. For example, Karachi University and Sindh University alone require a budget of 4 billion rupees, while NED University and Mehran University need over 2 billion rupees each.
In response to the federal budget cuts, Dr. Fateh Mari, Vice-Chancellor of Tando Jam Agricultural University, has called a meeting of all public universities in Sindh. The meeting, scheduled for today, Wednesday, May 29, at 4 PM, will discuss and plan the next steps in light of these financial challenges.
Dr. Fateh Mari emphasized that Sindh has 27 public universities. Despite the budget increase from the Sindh government, the absence of federal grants continues to pose a significant challenge. The universities need additional funding to maintain their operations and quality of education.
