cation-in-KP-A-matter-of-growing-concern-copy.jpg" alt="" width="749" height="450" />Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), once a province with rich potential for academic excellence, is now grappling with significant challenges in its higher education sector, mainly due to inadequate financial resources and a lack of qualified faculty, which hinders the province’s social and economic development.
Despite the efforts to improve educational infrastructure in recent years, KP’s higher education system continues to face a multitude of issues. From inadequate funding to a lack of qualified faculty, the provincial government and universities alike are struggling to provide quality education to students.
“A key issue affecting the quality of higher education in KP is the scarcity of resources. Public universities are particularly vulnerable, with limited budgets that fail to meet the growing demand for modern facilities and high-quality teaching. This has led to overcrowded classrooms, outdated learning materials, and insufficient research opportunities” said Professor Dr. Zilakat Malik, former Chairman of the Economics Department at University of Peshawar.
As a result, the students are often left with fewer opportunities to engage in meaningful academic pursuits or career development besides leading to poor performance of candidates in competitive examinations.
He said that many universities in KP are unable to attract top-tier educators due to uncompetitive salaries and poor working conditions. This has led to an increase in adjunct faculty, who may not always possess the necessary expertise or commitment to ensure high-quality teaching. Consequently, students are deprived of the mentorship and knowledge needed to excel in their respective fields.
Additionally, he said that the lack of continuous professional development for existing faculty members limits their ability to keep up with evolving teaching methodologies and research advancements.
Dr Zilakat said this stagnation undermines the effectiveness of higher education in the region and reduces the prospects for innovation and academic growth.
While KP has made strides in increasing the number of institutions of public sector universities over the past few years, access to quality education remains unequal, especially in rural and remote areas of the province.
Syed Akhtar Ali Shah, former Secretary Home and Tribal Affairs Department said the recent dismal performance of candidates in various competitive examinations speaks volumes of the deteriorating standards of higher education in our universities.
He told APP that not a single candidate from the lawyer’s quota passed last year’s examination for additional sessions judges, adding only nine candidates qualified for the 80 seats of civil judges.
Out of the 598 candidates, 139 did not pass the English part and that only 408 candidates out of 28,024, a mere 2.96%, passed the written CSS exam.
“That means students graduating from universities have the degree but not the knowledge to do well in competitive exams.”
Akhtar said one reason for the poor performance of universities is the lack of good governance which requires adherence to the law set for universities in the constitution of the country, the HEC guidelines and the Act that governs them.
Though the preamble to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Universities Act, 2012 postulates reconstitution and re-organisation of “universities to further improve their governance and management by ensuring accountability, transparency and giving due representation to all stakeholders in decision-making, so as to enhance the quality of higher education in the province”, in reality the performance of universities declined.
Contrary to the set standards, he said that universities offer programmes, even MPhil and PhD, without regular faculty, hampering research work.
Although recent amendments to the KP Universities Act require registrars to be appointed from within the administrative cadre of universities, he claimed that this requirement is often overlooked to accommodate hand-picked candidates.
He further claimed that appointments of vice chancellors against merit leads to poor governance and dismal administrative performance something that impacts the quality of education and research in universities.
Moreover, appointing scores of redundant teaching and non-teaching staff in universities creates unnecessary financial burden on universities. Such appointees resort to litigation seeking regularisation of their services despite the fact that there is no such provision in the laws of universities.
In view of the aforementioned observation, the right course is to follow the HEC guidelines, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa University Act, 2012, and the statutes made thereunder in letter and spirit and put an end to ad hocism. Universities ought to have permanent vice chancellors and other officers in accordance with the laws of the universities.
Akhtar argued that stop-gap arrangements will only worsen the falling standards of education and governance in universities.
With a consistent permanent set-up, one can hope that universities in KP are likely to deliver some of the promises they make in their mottos.
The experts said addressing the shortcomings of higher education in KP requires comprehensive reform, including increased funding for public universities, better faculty retention strategies, and the development of a more inclusive educational system.
Moreover, strengthening collaborations between universities and industries can help bridge the gap between academic learning and practical application, ensuring that students graduate with skills that are relevant to the job market.
Additionally, the provincial government must prioritize investing in rural and remote education infrastructure, ensuring that no student is left behind regardless of their geographic location or economic background.
By focusing on quality, accessibility, and inclusivity, they said KP can work towards creating an education system that nurtures innovation, empowers youth, and contributes to the long-term prosperity of the province.
The experts said the poor state of higher education in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa if left unaddressed, could have far-reaching consequences on the province’s development. However, with focused efforts and strategic reforms, there is still hope for transforming the higher education sector and ensuring a brighter future for the youth of KP.
