ISLAMABAD: Facing nationwide protest rallies of students seeking to replace exams with online assessments due to coronavirus pandemic, the government on Monday asked universities to consult with the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to see if holding online examinations was possible given the “special circumstances”.
In a series of late-night tweets, the minister while taking note of the students’ demands said: “This is a decision for the universities to make but I have asked HEC to consult VCs and see if it is possible given special circumstances this year.”
Some university students are demanding that their exams should be online as they have been studying online. This is a decision for the universities to make but I have asked HEC to consult VCs and see if it is possible given special circumstances this year. 1/2
— Shafqat Mahmood (@Shafqat_Mahmood) January 25, 2021
“Universities should also asses[s] whether they have the technical ability to conduct exam for ALL students. No one can be left behind,” he added in a subsequent tweet.
2/2 Universities should also asses whether they have the technical ability to conduct exam for ALL students. No one can be left behind. It is also necessary to ensure that online exam system is not misused to get easy grades. Preparing good question papers/ assessment is imp
— Shafqat Mahmood (@Shafqat_Mahmood) January 25, 2021
“It is also necessary to ensure that [the] online exam system is not misused to get easy grades. Preparing good question papers/ assessment is imp[ortant].”
His tweets come as students protesting for a week now say they attended online classes throughout the last year due to the pandemic and wanted to be examined under virtual conditions also.
They also claim universities had not completed the syllabi of different courses but now the institute’s administrations were pressing for exams.
The protesting students also called for a reduction in tuition fees since they did not attend classes in person and said that boarding schools should not be charging for lodging or meals.
In December, educational institutions across the country were shut and exams postponed to curb new coronavirus infections and a rise in the number of people in hospitals with coronavirus-related complications.
The decision to close institutions, officials had said, was based on an increase in the rate of positive test results in the country. The rate of people testing positive in June was as high as 23 per cent but dropped to a low of 1.7 per cent by September before surging again in October.
More than 19 per cent of new cases were from educational institutions, where the rate of positive results had nearly doubled in one week to reach 3.3 per cent, officials said at the time.
PROTESTS:
On Monday, Progressive Students’ Collective (PSC), a student organisation, said its Lahore president Zubair Siddiqui, who was leading a protest, was arrested by police from a private university.
The PSC later tweeted that Zubair and some other students were “critically injured and have been taken to ICU [intensive care unit]” after they were allegedly baton-charged by police.
However, police denied reports of baton-charge. Saddar Division Superintendent of Police (Operations) Hafeezur Rehman Bugti said police “have not tortured [any students], and will not torture”.
He said no first information report (FIR) has been registered and police have asked the protesting students to hold negotiations with the university administration.
Bugti also said that nobody was arrested.
Now its been an year. But still we are unable to conduct online exams. A toyal failure of education system.