Server breakdown: Students miffed by HEC attestation delays

Network was apparently to blame, spokesperson plays down issue.

ISLAMABAD:

Students and others who visited the degree attestation facility at the Higher Education Commission (HEC) office in Islamabad on Monday morning complained that the attestation process was delayed due to “server issues” at the facility.

Students informed The Express Tribune that the facility’s staff told them work on their degree attestation could not proceed due to problems with the network server.

“Many of the students required [the process to be completed] urgently due to scholarships (application deadlines) and other purposes,” said Muhammad Usama, a student.

Usama said hundreds of students had been waiting at the facility since early morning, but technical issues delayed work. Other people who visited the degree attestation facility said the HEC should allow people to bring print-outs of the applications they had submitted online instead of printing them exclusively at the facility, which can suffer from server issues.

HEC spokesperson Ayesha Ikram said there were no major public complaints about server issues at the attestation facility on Monday.

“I am not denying that there may have been a problem with the server. It is a mechanical device. It is possible that it might have been down during the day,” Ikram said. But she said a major breakdown would have caused a rush of people at the facility and she was not aware of such a situation.

Ikram suggested, however, that if students face difficulties at the attestation facility, they should immediately bring it to the notice of HEC staff or register a complaint with the facility’s administration so the issue can be resolved in a timely manner.

Sources said server issues are a routine problem at the attestation centre, but Ikram denied there was any history of server breakdowns.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 13^th, 2014.