FEDERAL Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood on Friday accused PML-N lawmakers of doing politics on the issue of examinations for matric and intermediate students “to gain cheap popularity”.
In a series of tweets, the Minister lashed out at senior PML-N leaders Khawaja Saad Rafique and Ahsan Iqbal, who have been calling on the government to delay the exams in order to give students more time to prepare.
Almost all sectors of economy suffered due to the situation arising out of Covid-19 but the education sector is the worst sufferer.
While restrictions imposed on other sectors were lifted at an early stage, those on resumption of formal classes remained in place until recently.
The Government did what it was expected to do – take necessary precautionary measures to save life of children in the backdrop of rapid spread of the virus, encouraged online classes and started distance learning programmes through Pakistan Television and Radio Pakistan.
It is also a reality that genuine and serious students and their parents tried their best to make amends for the regular classes.
It has to be appreciated by all that without formal examinations, the stigma of grace promotion to next grades would haunt the existing lot of the students for the whole life especially during search for careers.
Therefore, it is in the interest of the students themselves to sit in the exams and demonstrate their eligibility for promotion to the next class.
PML(N) leaders, especially those of the calibre of Ahsan Iqbal and Khawaja Saad Rafique, are not expected to do politics on an issue that is deeply linked to the future of the students and the nation.
There is also no justification for supporting the demand of the handful of non-serious students when the decision to conduct exams was taken unanimously by all federating units (and AJK) and exams have already been conducted in KP and Balochistan.
