![small victory for hindu student as court rules he can sit medical school test small victory for hindu student as court rules he can sit medical school test](https://i1.tribune.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/284353-education-1319835364.jpg)
What Sagar Ladhani came up against, like many other students, was a hitch in the system that doesn’t factor in religious minorities other than Christians. In order to apply to medical school O’ and A’ Level students need an equivalence certificate from the Inter Board Committee of Chairmen (IBCC). But you can only get that certificate if you have either taken Islamiyat or Bible studies. For students like Sagar, there is no other subject.
“This condition is against my fundamental rights entrenched in the constitution,” the Beacon House Schooling System student had argued in his petition before the court. When he went to the IBCC for his certificate, he was told he would only get one if he had passed a religious studies subject at the O’ level or taken the Ethics course at the matriculation level with the local board. One option was to wait till the Ethics exam in May 2012. “[But then] I would waste one precious year of my career,” he said. “In this way there would be unfair competition since other O’ Level students would have passed eight subjects and I would have to pass nine subjects.”
When the IBCC refused to give him a certificate, a panicked Ladhani filed an instant petition in the Sindh High Court through Barrister Mohammad Farogh Naseem, who is known as a constitutional expert. On Friday, the court said he could sit the exam.
“This decision came as an interim relief,” said Sagar’s father Misri Ladhani while talking to The Express Tribune. “I believe that justice will be done in my son’s case as I’m very optimistic about our judicial system.”
The jubilant father said that certified copies of the court’s order would be provided to both the university and the National Testing System on Saturday morning so that they would act in line with it.
He said that the main person named in the case, the IBCC, didn’t appear in court on Friday, so the bench, comprising Chief Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Ahmed Ali Sheikh, fixed November 15 for the next hearing.
Barrister Naseem maintained that the IBCC’s reply would be important to analyse whether students belonging to religious minorities would continue to suffer or not. “The committee should call off the requirement of eight subjects in the O’ Level if students of the religious minorities need to appear in an additional course of Ethics under the local board,” he said. “To acquire an equivalence certificate, Muslim students take seven subjects and opt for Islamiyat as the eighth course in the O’ Level while Christian students take Religious Studies for Bible Knowledge as the eighth one. I don’t know what viable option is left for the students of other religious minorities?”
Barrister Naseem contended that the committee should reconcile this issue with the British system of education as the problem lies more on their side.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 29th, 2011.
COMMENTS (11)
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I was in a similar situation in 1999- the IBCC gave me a provisional certificate [awarding me a ZERO for Islamiyat], saying a full equivalence certificate would be issued upon passing Islamiyat/Bible Knowledge at O level or Islamiyat/Ethics at SSC level. The admission rules at that time allowed me to contest in the admission process but made it mandatory for me to sit and pass the Ethics exam before sitting the First Professional MBBS examinations.
I got into Dow on open merit [with the disadvantage of having been given a zero for Islamiyat] and subsequently passed the Ethics examination. I was then given the full equivalence certificate [STILL getting a zero for Islamiyat- don't ask me why- I was already in Dow, and the 69/75 I had scored in Ethics weren't going to change anything] and my admission to Dow was confirmed.
Good luck Sagar. Though future aspirants are forewarned and advised to sit the Ethics examination during their A level years.
good news....let this not be an exception. Pakistan has a lot to prove yet in safeguarding minorities- let this be a strong step.
However small, a bit of institutional progress for minority rights in Pakistan...consider more options for the eighth course as well.
@ET, this is not a small victory by any means.. its a great achievement for the hindu minority community in getting their fundamental rights !
What Bible, Gita, Koran or any religious book has to do with admission in medical school? Bigotry, need to have its limits. Pakistan! It is twenty-first century.
A civilized society should provide equal opportunities to all its people irrespective of religion, caste, creed, language and region. No body should be forced to approach courts to claim their fundamental rights. Our leaders never speak about these anomalies but shout about the treatment meted out by them in foreign countries.
Minorities service people as much as the majority, if not more.
@Tanzeel: Barrister Naseem is a professional lawyer who provides his services to the clients in return of money. So what's your point exactly, come again.
Barrister Naseem is MQM's man. Good job by Muttahida as well!
This is a great news for minorities in Pakistan. If you can recruit a Sikh in the armed forces and the police then might as well let them become doctors too.
For State Bureaucracy 'common sense' is hard to find :S