LAHORE – The massive protests by affected students against the errors and omissions forced the authorities to cancel the Intermediate Part I results of four education boards in Punjab on Saturday, and it has been decided that results of all eight boards will be rechecked.
The step, unprecedented in the education history of the province, came after students surrounded the buildings of concerned boards in Lahore, Multan and Faisalabad, while enraged students ransacked the offices of Gujranwala Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE).
The protests against the debilitating omissions and errors in results published online that authorities at first tried to deny, ultimately forced them to also announce free re-checking of Part-2 results as the media highlighted the scale of failure of the handlers, and possibly the developers, of the newly-adopted computerised system.
Feeling heat of the protests, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif chaired an emergency meeting on the matter. The meeting decided that results of all candidates of intermediate Part-I of all the eight educational boards of the province will be rechecked, whereas those students of intermediate Part-II, who secured marks in 600-900 range and are unsatisfied their results, can get there it rechecked without any fee.
The CM also directed the authorities concerned that after rechecking, the result of intermediate part-I should be declared within 45 days, whereas the result of part-II students seeking re-checking should be announced within 20 days.
Addressing the meeting, Shahbaz said that he was deeply shocked over the inconvenience faced by the students and their parents due to delay in the announcement of result and other flaws, and assured that the persons responsible for it will not escape accountability.
The meeting also decided to submit an application to the High Court for constituting a Judicial Commission comprising High Court judges for probing into the matter.
Later, provincial Education Minister Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rahman while talking to media said that Intermediate Boards of Lahore, Gujranwala, Faisalabad and Multan had cancelled the first-year results. The minister said results would be announced again after two months.
The minister informed that the chief minister had constituted an inquiry committee to investigate the issue. He said that the second-year students, who are doubtful about their results, could get their papers rechecked without any fee. He defended the online system of examination results and said that the system itself was error-free but the mistakes took place due to lack of awareness among the staff operating the system.
Earlier, hundreds of students staged a protest demonstration in front of the BISE Lahore office. Angry students chanted slogans against the board management and blocked the road. They also tried to break the gates of the building but heavy police presence deterred them to do so.
The students and their parents demanded the chief minister take notice and punish the responsible. They held the prevalent corruption among the education department responsible for the chaos. Some of them believed that the staff failed the computerised system intentionally because its success would diminish their chances for easy money. Others seemed to buy the line that authorities launched the online system sans training the personnel, which resulted in the blunders.
They told that many students who even did not appear in the exam were declared successful and many students who never failed in their educational career and were expecting excellent results were declared fail. They said they also faced huge troubles in getting their exam slips, and complained of ‘organised corruption’ at the board offices.
Different sections of society expressed their support for the students cause but said that attack on the public properties the students cannot be justified on any pretext.
Staff reporters add: The worst of the students came in Gujranwala where enraged students set on fire main office of the Gujranwala board. The police resorted to tear gas shelling and aerial firing to control the situation, and as many as 13 students were injured in clashes with the police.
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