LAHORE: Students studying in four-year BS honours program at Islamia College Civil Lines criticized the government and the college administration on starting semester exams without completing the due credit hours and course.
Students said that college administration did not even issue a date sheet and started exams without informing students who were avoiding coming to college because of IJT activists’ torture. They said that without completing course sitting in exams will definitely affect their grades. They demanded the Punjab chief minister to abolish four-year BS honours programs if teachers were not competent enough to complete syllabus.
CONFUSED TEACHERS: Civil Lines teachers, seeking anonymity, said they were confused about the course and questioned that how could they teach students if they themselves did not know about the course. They said Punjab Higher Education Department started the four-year programme without proper planning and without even training the teachers. They demanded that government should withdraw this program till the completion of teachers’ training.
HORRIFIED STUDENTS: Students studying at Civil Lines are among those that qualified the seats after a tough competition and now were clueless about their fate. A student said that because of the fear of IJT activists and last week’s attack on the Punjab Assembly, most students were avoiding college. As IJT activists forcefully brought them on roads, they preferred to stay home instead of becoming a part of a movement against board of governors (BOG). He said the administration was claiming that they had issued a date sheet and was not concerned about the IJT fear that existed among students. He said students were surprised as many teachers had not yet completed coursework and some had not even briefed about their initial lessons. He said most students submitted the paper without solving questions.
Another student said that teachers taught them the old BA course while the paper was different. He said the course was not defined and when they asked the teachers about it they advised them to approach other universities where the new course was being taught. He said teachers clearly said that they had no idea about the course.
THAT’S HOW IT IS: Civil Line College’s examination department official said “This is the term exam of the first semester being conducted by the college. Final exam will be conduct by Punjab University as the college is affiliated with it. Surely students who will not perform well will fail.”
An HED official said that Civil Lines College was among the ideal colleges for the four-year program and yet the teachers here are not competent. He invited into a thought provoking session about the situation in other provinces where students were still studying the old course. He said Punjab government should withdraw the programme as there was no point in teaching the course which is not in compliance with the job market.
