Finally, the political activities have resumed and so has the debate between government and opposition. Senate’s standing committee on Information Technology has registered their concerns regarding the spending on higher education sector. The committee has shown their interest in raising the amount of funds and spending in education as it is a requirement to enhance rather than implementing cuts or keeping it stagnant. Same standing committee has also met with Higher Education Commission’s (HEC) secretary to discuss the issues faced by the students in online classes.

Senate’s standing committee on IT met with Chairman HEC, Executive Director HEC, Rector of National Academy of Higher Education, Vice Chancellors of various universities and representatives of IT Ministry, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and Universal Service Fund (USF). HEC advocated their own performance in a way that they have been successfully able to implement Learning Management Systems (LMS) in most of the universities. In addition to that, HEC has been actively advising all universities to continue online classes and even universities have now moved towards online admissions and online exams. However, Chairman HEC also highlighted two major issues; firstly, teachers didn’t have any online teaching experience and secondly, students have to face a lot of internet connectivity issues.

Numerous senators have also raised their voices on this that in these times of crisis, educational institutes are facing certain financial hardships that needs to resolved by the government. These funding will make education accessible and affordable for all which is a key objective for an efficient educational system. Senate standing committee on IT agreed that this issue will be raised in the next session of senate. Senators also agreed on an idea in which PTA and FBR shall join hands for providing universities / students with affordable internet devices and electronic gadgets as they are quite expensive in the market due to taxation and global health crisis. At last, it was agreed that a mutual effort is needed to come up with a strong educational system.