Performance check: Lyari students go to court against school principal

SHC orders action against all private schools whose students could not appear for Matric exams.

As many as 146 students of a private school in Lyari could not appear for their Matric exams since the institution failed to apply for their admit cards.

The students of Bright Star School in Sango Lane, Lyari, filed a petition in Sindh High Court on Friday claiming that 81 girls and 68 boys failed to appear for their annual exams for class IX and X that began on April 8.

In the petition, the students claimed that when they approached the principal, he made excuses. He told them that the school clerk, Abdul Karim, who was sent to the office of the Board of Secondary Education to submit the examination forms, ran away with the fee worth Rs142,000 and the forms.  “The principal registered an FIR against the clerk at Chakiwara police station, but so far the clerk has neither been tracked down nor the examination forms have been resubmitted to the board,” the petition said. The aggrieved students pleaded the court order action against the school management, particularly its principal, who is responsible for risking their future.



When the high court bench heard the petition on Friday, the judges decided to issue a general notice and take to task all those private schools that failed to follow proper procedure and risked their students’ academic lives. The high court directed the provincial education and literacy department and the Board of Secondary Education, Karachi, to take action against all delinquent principals and administrators of those private schools, whose students have been deprived of appearing for the ongoing Matric exams.

The education secretary and the board were also directed to consider the orders as a special case to ensure that the affected students are able to take the upcoming supplementary examinations.



Meanwhile, Chakiwara SHO was also ordered to take action against the principal of Bright Star School and all other relevant officials “who played with the future of such a large number of students”.

The bench noted that several students in the city were deprived of taking the exams due to similar mismanagement by their school administration. Hence, it ordered the education secretary to provide details on all schools, which fall in this category.

In addition, the board secretary will also take action against private schools that failed to comply with board orders to register their students for these exams. The judges asked them to consider all such students as special cases for the forthcoming supplementary examinations. Meanwhile, the lawyers for the petitioners and the board were asked to assist the court on what measures could be adopted to secure the future of such a large number of students under such special circumstances. Adjourning the hearing till April 30, the judges directed all relevant officials to file their comments by the next date.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 13^th, 2013.