Recount unacceptable: Students continue protest against HSSC-I result

Claim outstanding students fared badly in exams

RAWALPINDI: Students from three private colleges on Tuesday continued to protest for the second consecutive day against alleged irregularities in the annual results of Higher Secondary School Certificate-I (HSSC) examinations conducted by Rawalpindi Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (RBISE).

About four to five dozen students, mostly boys, gathered outside Liaquat Bagh and tried to block Benazir Bhutto Road as they raised slogans against the board.

The police, however, stopped the protesting students from blocking the main road and forcibly removed them. The students later raised slogans against the police as well.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Muhammad Usman, one of the protesters, said that the students were from Punjab College of Commerce, Rawalpindi College of Commerce, and Superior College.



He noted that they were out on the roads against the poor results issued by the RBISE,  as only 40 per cent of total candidates passed  the HSSC-I examination. He said that the students demanded rechecking of their answer sheets and would not accept the option of a recount.

Abdul Wahab, another student, said that many of his classmates who were very good in their studies had performed badly in the examinations. He said that the bad results clearly raise questions on the performance of the examination body.

The local police and an RBISE official tried to pacify the protesting students, but in vain.

Later, the students peacefully dispersed after announcing that they would stage another protest demonstration outside the board’s office in Morgah if their demands were not fulfilled.

RBISE authorities, on the other hand, had asked the students and their college administrations to apply for recounting of answer sheets without fee till October 25.

A senior board official, on condition of anonymity, said that according to a Supreme Court of Pakistan ruling, the board cannot go for rechecking and could only opt for recounting of marks.

He further said that the board issued the HSSC-I results after due precaution and diligence. He said that private colleges had started blaming the board for failure of their students.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 19^th, 2016.