Wilderness School: One British Council decision has far reaching impact

Students from across Balochistan will not be able to sit for the O’level exam in Quetta.

QUETTA:

Balochistan, a province already lagging behind in health and education, has suffered yet another setback. In a startling move, the British Council has announced that it will no longer administer the O’level exam in Quetta, citing security concerns.

A primary affectee of this decision is the Wilderness School – the only institute in Quetta that has no other branches elsewhere. Catering to primary and secondary level students since 1999, the school now hosts over 1,400 pupils and has won its fair share of recognition in the city. At the helm stands the determined Iram Gazi, who has resolutely braved all odds to keep the institute afloat. This latest blow, however, is a jarring and unfair one.

According to Gazi, the school received the letter from British Council on February 12. “The council says it is because of the law and order situation, but how is the situation better in Karachi and other parts of the country?” she asks, adding that although the situation in Quetta was worse in 2006 and 2007, after the killing of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, the examinations were still regularly conducted. “No foreigner comes to take exams in Quetta anyway. It is just Pakistani citizens. And, for Pakistanis, it in not an issue to sit for exams here.”

Gazi expresses utmost confusion about the British Council’s decision, as administering in Quetta has not required all that much manpower or resources. Typically, only one teacher from the commission is required to fly in for the examination, while the other teachers invigilating are locals from different schools.  In fact, for the past four years, exams have been conducted in the absence of anyone from the council. Therefore, to blame the law and order situation and cancel exams this year is perplexing, she says.

The principal articulates further resentment towards what she feels is provincial discrimination. “The people of Balochistan already feel that they are held back from progress in many fields. Only 300 students appear for this international examination annually. Furthermore, Quetta is the only area in Balochistan where O’level exams are conducted. We have 15 students in our school [Wilderness] who were going to take the test, but don’t know what to do now,” she says.

Furthermore, she says it is schools like Wilderness that that are being penalized the most. Just last week, all institutes received the letter from the British Council stating that students should go to Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad to sit for the exams. Since institutions such as The City School and Beaconhouse have branches in other cities, these schools agreed. Their students will be considered regular candidates. Wilderness School pupils, however, will have to appear as private candidates.

Gazi says the parents of Wilderness students flatly denied letting their children sit for exams in Karachi and other cities. “There is not a single day in Karachi in which at least 10 people are not killed. Also, look at what happened in Badami Bagh, Lahore, just recently. These incidents show that anything can happen anywhere! So why single out Balochistan?” she says angrily. “Now, as a result of this decision, parents are thinking of not letting their children even sit for the O’level exams in the future.”

During an official internal meeting in February, Capital City Police Officer Zubair Mehmood discussed this very dilemma with the then chief secretary, Babar Yaqoob Fateh Mohammad. Both men resolved to provide sufficient security at the Staff College, going so far as to state that the army was willing to help, as well, just so the O’level exam could be conducted.

However, the British Council has not responded to these assurances.

Gazi mentions a relevant meeting her school’s administration had with Governor Zulfiqar Ali Magsi on March 18. She happily recalls how Magsi strongly disagreed with the decision of the council, and said he would write a letter to them expressing his disapproval.

“We will assure them of foolproof security and discuss the issue on a government letter. If that doesn’t bear fruit, we will send the chief secretary to meet the council representatives,” the governor had said. “The papers of the students of Balochistan should be conducted in Quetta.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 24^th, 2013.