PESHAWAR: The suspension of academic activities due to the Covid-19 pandemic has caused a host of problems that warrant the attention of the relevant authorities.
After resolving the issue of annual examinations by promoting the students to next grade, the government and quarters concerned are yet to find solutions to the other issues.
The most serious issue being faced by those at the helm of affairs is holding entrance tests for admissions to medical colleges and engineering universities.
The commencement of the fresh academic session is another matter that requires proper planning as almost half of the academic year has passed.
Matters pertaining to the reopening of private educational institutions, their dues, concerns of the parents and miseries of the schools is equally an urgent and important issue for the authorities to address. According to sources, the Educational Testing and Evaluation Agency is planning to hold the entrance test in consultation with the Khyber Medical University on September 20 just five days later than the date given for reopening of educational institutions, which include the coaching centres meant for guidance of the test aspirants.
However, more serious than closure of coaching centres is the conduction or special exams for improvement for the students who are not satisfied with their intermediate results in line with the directives of Inter-Provincial Education Ministers’ Committee.
Date for the special exam has not yet been fixed, while the date for the ETEA test has been proposed. If it happens, it would affect thousands of students who want to appear in a special exam but don’t want to miss the test as well. There is a good number of students, who had dropped some papers in their 11th grade in the hope of securing good marks, while appearing in the same papers along with their 12th grade examination.
The promotion formula has affected these students as they were not given the 3 percent grace marks awarded to other students. Now they say that either they should be allowed to appear in those (dropped) papers or they too should be awarded additional marks on the pattern of the other students. The only solution to this issue in view of education experts, students and parents is delay in the entrance test until at least November. These tests had also been conducted in November last year after three time cancellation due to paper leakage and torrential rains.
Another big issue confronted by all the stakeholders is the late commencement of the academic year. Nearly six months of the current academic year have already passed and educational institutions are yet to open. The most serious problems for the schools’ management, teachers and students would be how to cover the course. Those appearing in board examinations - Secondary School Certificate and Higher Secondary School Certificate - would certainly be the worst affectees.
The Elementary and Secondary Education Department some two months back had announced to reduce the academic session to eight year. The directorate of curriculum and teachers education and the Directorate of Education had been tasked to redesign the courses and arrange for teachers training to overcome the issue. However, no progress could be made. A number of officials were contacted by this correspondent to know about any homework and progress on the course redesigning and teachers training, but all of them were found unaware of any progress.
Issues related to private schools have also taken a serious turn. The private school owners have declared to reopen schools from August 15 - a month prior to the date given by the government for resumption of educational activities. Fee collection by the schools under different pretexts is another big issue. The schools have definitely been affected by the long closure and some of them have been unable to pay salaries to staff and rents for buildings.
But most of the schools have been able to regularly collect fees on different pretexts like online classes, online assignments and online tests. “They have been charging us for transport as well let alone tuition fee,” said Mohammad Alam, whose kid was studying in a private school.
The same school is also being accused of awarding lower grades to it’s A Level students to deprive them of scholarships. “My son has straight A’s in O Level, but was awarded B, C, D in order to deprive him of scholarship after Cambridge University allowed teachers to assess the performance of students following annulment of exams by the university due to coronavirus,” said a parent.
