Two colleges take themselves out of exam equation after fighting

Intermediate students beat invigilator at DJ Science College.

KARACHI: A group of students assaulted a senior faculty member after their intermediate exam at DJ Science College on Thursday and faculty at Dawood College of Engineering and Technology (DCET) boycotted work and annual exams were suspended after a student reportedly manhandled a teacher a day earlier.

Shezad Muslim, an assistant professor of physics at DJ Science College, had rebuked candidates for using unfair means during their exam, and seized cheating materials from them, said Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association’s (SPLA) general secretary Prof. Iftikhar Mohammad Azmi.

According to witnesses, after submitting their answer scripts to invigilators, a group of students waited for Muslim at the college’s lobby. As soon as the teacher stepped outside the building, the students, along with other enablers, started attacking him. Ironically, policemen deployed at the college did not come to the teacher’s help, and the students were able to escape.

On the other hand, nearly 400 final-year DCET students were unable to sit their annual exam after faculty members boycotted their duties on Thursday. Saifullah, a second-year chemical engineering student, had thrown a glass at Sadia Karim, a lecturer, after she had reportedly expelled him from the examination room for using unfair means on Wednesday. The glass had hit Karim’s foot, which was cut and bled profusely.

However, The Express Tribune also learnt that the teachers had scuffled with each other on Thursday morning, after permanent faculty members at DCET appeared in favor of conducting the exams, while nonpermanent employees did not. Saifullah, the alleged culprit, had rendered a formally apology as well. A DCET official said that nearly 30 nonpermanent teachers were trying to use the incident to form a pressure group that would serve their interests in the future.

SPLA’s Prof. Azmi told The Express Tribune that after meeting teachers at the DJ College, it was decided that no further exams would be conducted at the college from now on. “Despite the fact that this college falls in the red-zone, law enforcement agencies failed to prevent the continuous external influence,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 1^st, 2012.