Exam ban on private science students challenged in court

Claim it is a rights violation; board sources say private students are unprepared for exams.

RAWALPINDI:

Private schools owners approached the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday to challenge Punjab Higher Education Department order banning private students from appearing in science subjects at secondary school certificate (SSC) level.

All Pakistan Private Schools Management Association, through its President Abrar Ahmed Khan, has petitioned before the LHC Rawalpindi bench that the order was discriminatory and in violation of basic human rights as it deprived certain students from getting the education of their choice.

Citing the higher education secretary, Punjab Boards Committee of Chairmen (PBCC) chairman, and Rawalpindi Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (RBISE) chairman as respondents, the petitioners said that every year, they had to approach the courts to enable private students to appear in science subjects.

LHC Justice Ali Baqir Najafi will take up the petition on Thursday.

The petitioners have challenged a 2004 notification issued by the Punjab higher education secretary banning private students from schools not recognised or affiliated with the relevant government departments from appearing in science exams.

In the petition, APPSMA President Abrar Ahmed maintained that every year, the eight exam boards of Punjab including RBISE issued a notification reaffirming the ban, and in each of the last nine years, the association had to knock at the doors of the high court to get permission.



This time the petitioners have challenged the 2004 order itself. Elaborating on the grounds, Abrar Ahmed said boards were only meant to conduct exams and declare the results. “They have nothing to do with whether or not students had gotten practical preparation.”

He said last year, the high court had directed the association to contact the relevant authorities and find a permanent solution to the problem.

“I contacted the RBISE chairman as he was to attend a recent PBCC meeting to discuss the issues of private students. Dr Muhammad Ashraf, the chairman, after discussing with the heads of other exam boards, said they decided that it was not the PBCC that applied the ban, and that the final decision would be up to the higher education secretary,” Abrar said.

A senior RBISE official said the ban was placed to maintain quality of science education at the initial stage.

Students from unrecognised and unregistered schools are not supposed to appear in science subjects as they never get a chance to practically study physics, chemistry, biology or computers, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 20^th, 2012.