Online applications: Court seeks details of affected students

LHC directs all boards to inform the court about the number of students who were unable to take exams.

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court on Wednesday directed the chairmen of all Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISEs) in the province to file affidavits with the court, informing it about the number of students who were unable to take some of the examinations because of not getting the roll number slips in time.

The court also sought information regarding the dates on which roll number slips were issued to these and other students.

Earlier, Lahore and Faisalabad BISEs’ chairmen, Muhammad Akram Kashmiri and Mumtaz Hussain submitted through their counsel, Sheikh Shahid Waheed, that except for a small number, all students had taken their exams as scheduled.

Petitioner Advocate Muhammad Azhar Siddique, however, rejected the claim, saying that a large number of students and their parents were still protesting against the education boards for not getting roll number slips.

The chairmen assured the court that they would provide every student, who had missed an exam, with an opportunity to take the said exam. The updated schedule, they said, would be announced very soon.

They stated that the online application system was introduced to ensure transparency and uproot corruption in the education boards. The system, they said, would discourage people taking exams in someone else’s place.

Justice Shaikh Azmat Saeed observed that these considerations were internal matters of the boards and that they should not be used as pretexts to defend any harm done to students. He said the court was concerned with ensuring that the fundamental rights of the citizens were not violated.

During Wednesday’s hearing, the petitioner raised objections about the eligibility of the person in charge of the newly-established online application system. He said Dr Majid Naeem had been expelled from the Government College University and the Punjab University on corruption charges. There were two references pending against him with the National Accountability Bureau, he added.

Justice Saeed directed the complainants to submit the affidavits and adjourned the hearing for two weeks.

In an application added to the petition, Advocate Azhar Siddique has submitted that the education boards have changed the pattern of multiple choice questions (MCQs) without giving a prior notice and enough time to the students to prepare accordingly. He said the requirement of the online application forms, too, was made at a very short notice, resulting in many students not getting their roll number slips in time. He said earlier the boards had made the submission of Form-B mandatory for acceptance of application forms.

He had requested the court to direct all BISEs to annul the new pattern of MCQs. He had also prayed the court to stay the holding of exams and till a verdict was reached in the case.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2011.