ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Education and Professional Training secretary has not been attending meetings of the Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) Syndicate in violation of relevant rules. The Syndicate is the apex decision-making body of the QAU. It consists of nominated members from the university itself, the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC), Parliament, the President’s House, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the Armed Forces Postgraduate Medical Institute (AFPGM) Rawalpindi. A religious scholar, appointed with the consent of president, is also a member. According to documentary evidence available with Daily Times, the ministry secretary has only attended two Syndicate meetings since December, 2014. According to QAU rules, it is compulsory for some members of the Syndicate to attend meetings in person. They are not allowed to send their nominees to replace themselves. These members are: the member National Assembly (MNA) (selected member of the body from the parliament), the Ministry of Education secretary, a dean of the university, a professor of the university, an associate professor, the religious scholar and the principal of an affiliated college and a woman member. The documents show that only the 162nd Syndicate meeting, held on December 31, 2013, was attended by the then Education Ministry Secretary Chaudhry Qamar Zaman. The 163rd Syndicate meeting held on September 27 and October 1, 2014 was not attended by the secretary. Instead, the ministry’s adviser Dr Rafiq Tahir participated in the meeting in violation of the rules. Similarly, the 164th, 165th and 166th meetings of the Syndicate held on April 30, May 5 and June 2, 2015, respectively, were not attended by the secretary. Once again, the ministry instead sent Dr Rafiq Tahir. On April 12, 2016, the then secretary Muhammad Humayun attended the 167th Syndicate session. However, the secretary kept himself away from subsequent Syndicate meetings. He remained absent from the 168th, 169th, 170th and the 171th meetings held on March 1, June 3, and July 19 of 2017, respevtively. Once again, Dr Rafiq Tahir was sent by the ministry. A QAU professor said that the ministry officials did not attach any importance to their duties. “This shows the priorities of the Education Ministry. Its secretary does not even care to participate in the Syndicate meetings. This is meant to convey to other members that the secretary has more important things to do,” he said. “Moreover, nominees that participate in the meetings in place of the secretary completely dominant proceedings,” he said. On the other hand, the HEC has also been committing such violations. HEC Chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmed has only attended a couple of meetings of the Syndicate so far. According to the rules, the official who will attend the Syndicate meeting as representative of the HEC should be a nominee of the commission. Sources, however, said that Dr Ahmed did not have nomination of the commission 17-member board. When contacted, Education Ministry Secretary Shoaib Mir said that he had assumed charge recently. “No QAU Syndicate has been held since I assumed office. I will participate in the Syndicate meetings in future if the university administration informs me about the schedule,” he said. Published in Daily Times, August 30th 2017.