SHC dismisses plea to reschedule Matric exams

Petitioner said Matric exams had been rescheduled for April 7, as examination venues were to serve as polling stations

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) dismissed on Monday a petition against the change in the schedule of the annual Matriculation examinations in Karachi that clash with the dates of the by-elections in the NA-246 constituency.

A division bench, comprising justices Sajjad Ali Shah and Hasan Feroze, passed this order on a petition filed by Usman Moazzam Siddiqui against the education and election authorities for changing the exams schedule due to the by-polls.

Siddiqui, a candidate himself, had approached the court on Friday in an attempt to ‘save the future’ of his own daughter, who is among the 300,000 students that will be affected.

The petitioner said the Matric exams had been rescheduled for April 7, as the examination venues were to serve as polling stations. He alleged that education and election authorities had not considered the future of the students. “The total registered voters in NA-246 are less than 250,000 whereas rescheduling the examination is creating mental agony for over 300,000 students,” said Siddiqui.

On Monday, the petitioner’s lawyer, Khurrum Lakhani produced the schedule of classes nine and 10 in the court. The judges dismissed, however, the plea.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 31^st, 2015.