March 28, 2020
Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry on Saturday received flak for criticising the role of Pakistani universities in the battle against the coronavirus pandemic.
The minister, in a tweet, had said: "Where are Pak Universities? Everywhere in the world Universities are providing guideline to the Govts through leading reserach and policy papers,why Pak Unis are silent spectators?"
"We need to up the game...Vc’s must initiate reserach..up the game guys," he wrote.
Shortly after his tweet, Twitteratis slammed the federal minister asking him to reflect on his own actions before pointing fingers at others.
"The present government has slashed the education budget to such an extent that the institutions have to pay teachers salaries by taking loans. How do you expect them to conduct researches," asked one Twitter user.
The federal government, despite making tall claims of developing the education sector, allocated a mere 2.8% for education from the total 2019-20 budget.