Notices on plea to postpone matric exams

Lahore, Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed of the Lahore High Court on Monday issued notices for March 9 to all boards of intermediate and secondary education in Punjab on an application seeking court directions for board managements to postpone the secondary school certificate (Class X) examination, which began on Saturday, and abolish multiple choice questions (MCQs) portion from question papers.

Petitioner Advocate Muhammad Azhar Siddique filed the application in his main petition challenging the revision of admission procedure by all BISEs besides introducing MCQs for Class X examination. He said students needed more time to understand the new pattern and it seemed that all BISEs had decided to create hurdles for students in their examination.

The petitioner said BISEs first made the enclosure of Form-B compulsory for admissions and then announced that admission forms could only be downloaded from their respective websites through internet which also added to the sufferings of the students. Siddique said that the step also failed as students could not submit online admission forms in time. He said a majority of the students could not get their roll number slips and had to visit board offices a number of times. He alleged students were forced to grease the palm of board officials to get their roll number slips.