Daily Times

Misappropriation of funds hardly makes headlines in our part of the world. But when the embezzlement is related to education and health funds, it should be a matter of shame for the whole society. And when a prestigious institution like the Government College University (GCU) Lahore is in the news because of dubious payments to foreign faculty, it sends shudders down everybody’s spine. An internal probe by the GCU has unearthed a scam under which $7 million were paid to ‘ghost’ foreign faculty members of the University (GCU) from 2003 to 2013 who served for weeks or months at the college’s Abdus Salam School of Mathematical Sciences (ASSMS) under Higher Education Commission (HEC) Foreign Faculty Hiring Programme (FFHP). It turns out that most of the FFHP funds did not go to the teachers. The FFHP, dubbed a game changer programme by its founder, Dr Attaur Rehman, brought foreign teachers to Pakistani universities for increasing the exposure of local teachers and students and to create a culture of research on local campuses. Under the programme, 58 foreign teachers served at the ASSMS for different durations — few weeks to eight years in some cases. The probe, however, found that several teachers were paid monthly salaries for several years. Of those a few are served at ASSMS for a short term – eight to 12 weeks. The process of payment remained unchecked on part of the parent donor – Higher Education Commission (HEC).

Once the probe was made public, HEC has sprung into action. The college has verified the salary details by reaching out to the foreign teachers, and most of them have shown shock over the ‘excessive’ payments to them. A few of them shared the figures of the money they receive from the ASSMS, which strengthens the notion that funds were misappropriated. The probe found that the visiting teachers were kept in the dark about the terms of the job. A visibly shaken GCU Vice Chancellor Asghar Zaidi has promised a full investigation into the case. The GCU and HEC may utilise forums like Anti-Corruption Establishment, the Federal Investigation Agency and the National Accountability Bureau to get the situation cleared. To verify the presence of foreign teachers, GCU can get help from the students and even immigration staff at airports.

GCU probe might just be the tip of the iceberg. The HEC had better initiate an investigation into other FFHP campuses too. *