NA Opp stages walkout as govt refuses to postpone board exams

ISLAMABAD: The quorum syndrome continued to hit the proceedings of the National Assembly on Friday after the opposition parties staged a walkout while expressing dissatisfaction over the reply of the parliamentary secretary to the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training for not agreeing with their suggestion to delay the board exams. Following the walkout, PMLN legislator Sheikh Fayazuddin pointed out the quorum and after the count was made, Speaker Asad Qaisar adjourned the house till Monday. Earlier, raising the issue of delay in the board exams, PMLN legislator Khwaja Saad Rafique said the issue to delay the board exams was raised on Thursday and the speaker had directed arranging a meeting with the Education minister. He said the issue is related to 5 million students of Metric and Intermediate and the preparation of thousands of the students is not complete because their schools did not complete their courses. “How the students will take examinations when their schools have failed to complete the courses for exams,” he said, adding that it would be better to delay the exams for a month or two.

He said despite the speaker’s instructions, no one from the government has made any contacts with the opposition. If the minister for Education and Professional Training is not in Islamabad, he should be contacted through video link as it is a serious matter. He said the opposition will adopt a strategy once it gets a clear reply from the government.

Parliamentary Secretary for Education Wajiha Qamar said the exams cannot be delayed. She said the decision to hold board exams was taken in consultation with the provinces. The exams have already been held in Balochistan while these are under way in Sindh. She said the minister is in Gilgit-Baltistan for official engagements and he told her that he will handle this issue.

While responding to a point of order, Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan assured that all stranded Pakistanis in Europe and the Middle East will be brought to the country by 20th of this month. He said the PIA has operated special flights to bring overseas Pakistanis from the Middle East. By now, 54,116 stranded Pakistanis have been brought to the country in a dignified manner.

He said those in Europe and the UK are also being transported to the country through chartered flights. He said overseas Pakistanis are a precious asset as they are contributing immensely to the country’s economy. He said their remittances reached 29 billion dollars during the last fiscal year.

Responding to a call attention notice of Nawab Sher, Adviser on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan said several projects have been initiated in different cities under the Naya Pakistan Housing Scheme to provide low cost houses to people. He said the construction of 45,000 housing units is under way and work on them will be completed in eighteen months. He said loans on low interest rates are also being provided to people to construct houses. Banks have so far received 33,506 loan applications amounting to 110 billion rupees. He said loans worth Rs 35 billion have been approved.

Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Malik Anwar Taj laid before the house the Pakistan Maritime Zones Bill 2021.

Meanwhile, the speaker deferred the bill pertaining to well-being, comfort and dignity of senior citizens residing in Islamabad.