Majority of the Pakistani Universities Lack Resources for Online Education: HEC

As the recent pandemic struck the world with ferocity and forced masses to stay at home, online education became a norm. However, as more people get inoculated we see the ease in restrictions around the world but things can go bleak again with the rise of new variants of the virus. So how much we’re prepared? In a shocking revelation, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan after a survey said that most universities in the country are ill-equipped for rendering online education.

According to the details, in just 40 out of 205 registered universities, online education support is provided with fully functional learning management systems (LMS), The rest of the institutions lack proper resources for delivering online education.

The World Bank has vowed a $400 million fund to restructure and develop the higher education sector in Pakistan. It also includes the introduction of a new component that will emphasize on supporting uninterrupted education in all sorts of crises or calamities like the COVID-19.

The component will cost a total sum of $93 million to implement and will equip all universities in Pakistan to provide online education under unpredicted circumstances and university lockdowns.

According to a restructuring paper on higher education development in Pakistan, the World Bank project has so far allocated $65 million out of the commitment of $400 million. Furthermore, the project has been regarded as satisfactory for progress towards achieving its primary target which was to facilitate research excellence in strategic sectors of the economy, improve teaching and learning and strengthen governance in the higher education sector.

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