MQM-P alleges Sindh bureaucracy carrying out ‘educational genocide’ of Karachi students

A large number of matriculation and Intermediate students of Karachi were failed in the annual board examinations under a conspiracy hatched up by the Sindh government and bureaucracy.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) Senior Deputy Convener Dr Farooq Sattar levelled this allegation during a press conference on Wednesday. He maintained that failing a large number of students of Karachi was an attempt to suppress the rise of the MQM-P.

He also criticised the increase in university fees and closure of grants to the varsities of Sindh. Dr Sattar demanded that the examination results be reassessed and the government set up a commission to investigate the failure of a large number of students in the board examinations.

The MQM-P leader announced on the occasion that the party would hold a major protest with students and general public against what he termed the educational exploitation.

“Urban Sindh's jobs were grabbed in the past 15 years. People have been exploited by the quota system for the past five decades. Other people are recruited on the urban Sindh quota on fake domiciles,” he remarked.

He said that about 400,000 students had taken the matric examinations and 45 per cent of them were declared failed. He questioned whether the children of Karachi had suddenly stopped studying that resulted in such a high fail percentage.

Thousands of students had been affected due to the incompetence and corruption of the corrupt officers of the matric board, Dr Sattar alleged. “The bureaucracy appointed by the Sindh government has been given a free hand to exploit the students of Karachi through the matric and intermediate boards,” he said.

He added that 65 per cent of the students who took their Intermediate examinations had failed. He wondered how that was possible and remarked that this was a new tactic to deprive the children of Karachi of their due rights.

Calling the situation ‘educational genocide’ of the children of Karachi, the MQM-P leader said it was being carried out at the behest of the landlords of Sindh. “We will surround the board offices with the public,” Dr Sattar said. He added that the pass percentage of students in the results of rural Sindh was around 80 per cent.

He demanded that the Supreme Court, Sindh High Court and other state institutions as well as the army chief take note of this mischief being done with the children of the country. He said the matter was also directly linked to the peace and security of Karachi as restlessness among the people was increasing due to such injustices.