Need for action as KU teachers face pressure to let absentee students sit exams

A group of students at Karachi University, some of them belonging to politically influential families, have been pressuring teachers of various departments to allow them to sit the final semester exams without attending classes, The News has learnt.

As many as three lawmakers of opposition parties in the Sindh Assembly also approached KU officials last week, threatening them to allow the students to appear in the exams. One of those lawmakers visited the varsity and called the chairman of the International Relations Department to the Vice Chancellor Office.

She, in the presence of the VC, asked the chairman to explain why he was not allowing the students to take the exams. The chairman took a principled stance and said the students should fulfil attendance requirements for attempting the exams, or the university should issue a notification for relaxing the attendance rules. He also showed the attendance of the complainants, most of whom had either attended very few or no classes. The VC accepted his stance, but the lawmaker wasn’t satisfied even with the in-person explanation of the chairman.

Wanting undue favour

These provincial assembly members belong to the opposition. However, they failed to get any favour from the varsity for their children and close relatives, while the teachers and the KU administration insist that everyone should follow the rules introduced by the varsity.

Afterwards, that specific group of students took the matter to social media and started a maligning campaign against the IR department chairman, who is known for his integrity and respected by both teachers and students. At the same time, the lawmakers whose children were affected by the varsity rules approached senior officials of the Universities and Boards Department and complained that teachers of Karachi University were not entertaining their wishes.

Later, some officials approached the teacher and asked for a favour. However, the chairman who earlier had given an explanation declined and said that if the University and Boards Department’s officials had any complaint, they should come through proper channel. “If they got relaxation in the rules from the authorities concerned, he would happily allow the students to appear in the final semester exams. Otherwise, he wouldn’t allow students who remained absent from physical and online classes throughout the semester to sit the exams.”

Semester rules

According to the Karachi University Semester Rule 2002, “Permission to appear in the examination will be subject to completing attendance requirements. A student should have at least 75% attendance to appear in the final semester examination. If a student is unable to complete the attendance requirement, they should be required to attend the entire course whenever it is offered again.”

Fulfilling the criteria of attendance, they would be eligible for taking the examination in the particular course. But if a student, after completing the attendance requirement, does not attempt papers or failed to pass the exam, they would be allowed to re-appear not more than twice in the terminal examination when it is offered in the coming session, say the rules.

Students’ viewpoint

The statement that was circulated by those students on social media says that they were suffering from the Covid-19 and they later on submitted their Covid positive reports. However, the teacher’s response was that staying away from the classes during the 15-day Covid quarantine period would be understandable, but choosing not to show up for the classes throughout the semester could not be justified.

KU’s stance

Responding to reporters, the KU spokesperson clarified that some local Urdu dailies have published baseless news items regarding the matter. The fact is that these students have not attended their classes throughout the semester, and now they are approaching the media and reporters to publish fake news to maligning the varsity and their teachers.

Some of the students have only one or two attendances and some have none, with no names in the attendance register. Therefore, it’s not possible for a teacher to allow them to sit in the final semester exams.

As per the KU notification, during the last semester, the varsity had conducted physical classes which started from the third week of February to March 13, and also held online classes from May 17 to June 6. But the students were not interested in attending even online classes.

Those who submitted Covid-19 positive reports were exempted from attending physical and online until they received negative reports. Instead of running a campaign against the varsity and teachers, these students should wait for the next exams, the spokesperson said.

KU’s reputation

Karachi University is a premier public sector institution of Pakistan. It is very unfortunate that politically influential people and lawmakers are directly intervening in the university affairs and pressuring respected and law-abiding teachers for undue favours.

It’s unfortunate that a social media campaign has been launched against teachers, including the chairman of the International Relations Department who is a well-reputed national and international scholar, with several research publications and fellowships, including the Fulbright (USA), Hansard Society (London) and Fernand Braudel (France), to his credit.

It is either the Sindh government or the university administration that has to decide on relaxation of the attendance rules for students who could not attend the classes due to the Covid-19. Moreover, the authorities also need to take stern action against those who are involved in maligning the teachers on social media.