A student was screaming to a television reporter that “I have 45 marks in Physics and I didn’t even appear in the subject”. Another pleaded that “I had given the paper but I was marked absent”. One remembered his class fellow of government college who had committed suicide after his poor result.

Browsing through different news channels on Saturday it was indeed a sad sight to see. It was sad and hurtful to see the destruction that was going on in Gujranwala, Faisalabad and other parts of the Punjab province. Students set fire to buildings, blocked traffics for hours, chanted slogans, pelted stones, broke windows, and held board officials hostage! It pained me to see not only how the future of the country could be so violent but it pained me more to see what had driven them to this extent.
It is hard to lay blame to the students for what they did. Yes, the destruction was wrong, the anger was wrong, but it wasn’t unjustified. Students are always told that education is the key to their future. Their Matric, first year and second year marks are the building blocks of their future. If they do well here, they will go on to a good university, they will succeed in life and be ‘somebody’.
Their whole life in a way is made dependant on these results. Further add to that the way the exams are conducted. Students have to pay fees which are not affordable for a large majority of our population. They are not sent their exam entry tickets up till the last days of the exams, and at times not even after exams! The dates of announcing results are always confused.
The standard of public education is abysmal at best. School teachers are often absent, books are full of mistakes and the focus is apparently all on rote learning. It was only recently that students’exam scripts were found as ‘pakora bags’ before the results were announced. Entrance exam dates for Punjab medical colleges have shifted so widely that students have never had the chance to even prepare properly. The initial pleas and outcries in this matter fell on deaf years. So what could the students do except what they did? At least this way their cries weren’t falling on deaf ears any more. So, yes what the students did wasn’t right but it wasn’t unjustified.
It is no rocket science to run an examination board in a professional manner. There are so many countries in the world who did it year after year without incident. Cambridge Assesment has been working for over 150 years now. They conduct exams in over 150 countries with a total administrative workforce of 170 employees and 7000 examiners who mark in excess of one million exam scripts. The results have always come in the second week of August and the papers ended by mid June. The statements of entries always come at least a month before the actual exams. Even in Pakistan the Federal Board and the Aga Khan board in particular are doing a great job ensuring exam quality and are continually working to step away from the rote learning paradigm. It is time these success models be adapted all over the country. Professional, competent and responsible individuals are the need of the hour in our examination systems.
The Punjab government and the exam boards must realise that they hold the future of our children in their hands. The future of our country should not be treated this way. Rather than dealing with these matters reactively they should have been proactively engaged with. When the first news of problems with the results broke out, immediate action should have been taken.
The situation escalated because it was allowed to escalate. Furthermore, it is so hard to imagine that such a big system flaw existed in the results announcement system which clearly shows that it wasn’t tested beforehand. This is complete negligence. Now, while it is great that the chief minister has taken notice of what has happened, and even asked for a judicial inquiry this is not enough. First of all the whole result should be recompiled not just first year.
Secondly, why do students need to submit papers for rechecking even after it is clear that there was a widespread error? This should all be done as default. Third, arrangements should be made for all subsequent exams so this error is not repeated. Alongside the automated system a manual result should also be prepared as a redundant backup and safeguard against computer errors. The chief minister should also ensure that whoever is found responsible by the inquiry is dealt with sternly, and he should take into confidence students, parents and teachers about what is being done to ensure that this is not repeated next year.
Many students who were looking forward to going on international outreach programs on merit scholarships have also had to give up this opportunity. Many have missed their university offers. These are all mistakes that have been further worsened by a two month delay in results, and a three week delay in rechecking (not counting the delay in the government accepting that there was a problem to begin with). Students have wasted so much of their academic time already. Yet and perhaps more importantly a dangerous precedent has been set in the minds of our students.
A precedent that their voices are not heard until or unless they come out on the streets and cause destruction. A precedent that they are not offered academic justice until or unless they protest. A precedent that they are not cared for.

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SALMAN MUSHTAQ
MOB:0333-7465571
Email: mani@bzupages.com
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