Matriculation: Two students win court fight for thousands to sit exams

Students over 20 years of age were denied right to sit exams.

KARACHI: Two students have won a fight for 3,000 peers by going to court over an age limit of 20 years for the Matric exams.

The Sindh High Court granted them a one-time permission to sit the exams as under new rules the Board of Secondary Education had decided they would be ineligible. The board changed its policy on March 13, 2011.

On Wednesday, the Sindh High Court ruled in the students’ favour and ordered the board to issue admit cards to about 3,000 students. This will happen only this once, said the court, summoning the board’s chairman for April 5.

This was a victory of sorts for the students who filed the petition, Iftikhar Hussain and Sher Mehmood, who had named the chairman, secretary and controller examinations of the board as respondents besides the Sindh education secretary, EDO Education and director of private schools in Karachi. They had argued that they had paid all the fees for enrolment, registration and the examination but because the board suddenly changed its policy they and thousands of other candidates were barred from appearing.

The new policy was applicable for the current year’s examination but the petitioners argued that the future of thousands of students would be put in jeopardy if they were not allowed to sit the exams.

Justice Maqbool Baqar and Justice Nisar Muhammad Shaikh issued a short order, allowing the students to sit their Matric exams.

Notices were also issued in an identical petition filed by the Sindh Private Schools Management Association.

Iftikhar, 21, one of the petitioners told The Express Tribune, that he lives in Baldia Town sector 9 and was a regular student at the Winner Grammar School. He left school four years ago when he lost interest in studying. “I now realise the importance of education,” he said. “When I approached school, my teachers asked me to knock the doors of justice if I wanted to sit for the exams.” He added that for the last three days he had been going to court and was determined to work hard to clear all five papers. The other petitioner, Sher Mehmood, is resident of Ittehad Town and was studying science at Field Marshall School.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 15^th, 2012.