Govt rejects opposition’s demand to delay Inter exams

ISLAMABAD: The government on the floor of the National Assembly on Thursday rejected the demand of the opposition parties to delay Intermediate examinations to be taken by the Federal Board on Saturday and in Punjab by the end of this month.

PML-N Parliamentarians Ahsan Iqbal, Maiza Hameed, Khwaja Saad Rafique, Marriyum Aurengzeb and Dr Darshan raised the issue on a call attention notice. The opposition members were of the view that the Intermediate examinations are being taken on a short notice without covering the syllabus.

Parliamentary Secretary for Education Wajiha Akram opposed the delay in Intermediate examinations, questioning under which formula the students would be promoted and on which merit they would be admitted to professional educational institutions. She said that following the upcoming examinations, the students would have another option of appearing in papers in September and October. She said it has been decided that the students would appear in three to four instead of eight subjects with reduced syllabus.

She questioned whether the students who are staging protest in Islamabad represent all the candidates who want to appear in the examinations. She told the House that Intermediate examinations in Balochistan have already been completed while the same are about to be completed in Sindh. The parliamentary secretary said that entry tests for medical and other institutions have been delayed to give equal opportunities to all the students.

PML-N member Ahsan Iqbal said the students did not get equal opportunities of online classes and the smart subjects also could not be covered. “Tens of students are looking towards the Assembly to take an appropriate decision,” he said and added that the schedule for board examinations is announced on a two to three months notice. Those belonging to the lower middle class and studying in government schools could not get sufficient time to cover syllabus. He demanded a 45-day delay in Intermediate examinations so that the students could get proper time to prepare themselves.

Wajiha Akram said the classes of students were started on May 31 while they were also directed in April that they should be mentally prepared for the board examinations. The speaker, however, asked the parliamentary secretary to sit with the opposition member to address their grievances. The House was informed that Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood is not participating in the Kashmir elections campaign. Rather he is on an official visit to Gilgit-Baltistan.

Khwaja Saad Rafique said politics should not be involved in the sensitive issue of Intermediate examinations. He demanded six to eight weeks delay in the conduct of examinations. The PML-N member said that due to severe load-shedding across the country, the students could also not avail online classes. He asked the speaker to call Shafqat Mahmood to respond to questions.

Former prime minister Raja Parvaiz Ashraf said the police tortured the students who staged a protest in Islamabad while a large number of protesters were arrested. He said the government should immediately order the release of all the detained students.

Soon after the discussion on the examinations issue was over, an opposition member pointed out lack of quorum. Speaker Asad Qaisar, after counting, adjourned the proceedings till Friday (today). The National Assembly session had been summoned on Wednesday on a less than 24 hours notice that resulted in lack of quorum.