Sindh rejects HEC’s decision to abolish two-year bachelors’ degrees
Government says 270,000 students will suffer SAMAA | Sanjay Sadhwani - Posted: Feb 3, 2021 | Last Updated: 2 months ago SAMAA | Sanjay Sadhwani Posted: Feb 3, 2021 | Last Updated: 2 months ago
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The Sindh and federal government are at odds over the Higher Education Commission s new policy on abolishing two-year bachelors programmes across the country.
Last year, the commission had announced that two-year BA and BSc degrees will no longer be taught at universities in Pakistan.
Students enrolled in two-year programmes before December 31, 2018 will be allowed to complete their BA and BSc degrees until December 2020. However, those enrolled later will not be granted their degrees, a notification by the HEC read.
Students of various universities demand online examinations
Karachi February 2, 2021
As semesters are drawing to a close, students of some varsities have started making the demand for online examinations as their classes were also held online. Demanding online exams, students of the Textile Institute of Pakistan on Monday demonstrated a protest on the National Highway.
The protesters blocked the road and chanted slogans against the administration of the institute. They were of the view that they had been studying online for the last two semesters. Therefore, the administration should also conduct online exams.
Talking to the reporters, they said that they would not appear in the on-campus exams. They also complained about the fee structure and told that instead of reducing tuition fee, the institute had increased it without informing the students.
Imprisoned for protesting: the missing students of Pakistan
Rights groups express grave concern that the whereabouts of several students remains unknown
Students protest in front of Punjab Assembly in Lahore on Jan. 29 for the release of detained students. (Photo: Kamran Chaudhry/UCA News)
Salman Sikandar and his friends were blindfolded while being shifted to three police stations in the Pakistani city of Lahore.
“We were sleeping when policemen banged on the door and forcefully entered. They slapped a student who asked about the arrest warrant. We were handcuffed and confused,” Sikandar, 23, told UCA News.
“They collected our smartphones in a black plastic bag. Only the tap water of dirty toilets was available in lockups. The trauma has changed me forever. I only witnessed injustice in police captivity.”
TO anyone with a comparative perspective and a genuine desire to see the flourishing of an intellectual culture in Pakistan, it would be clear that we are currently producing few top-quality scholars and thought-leaders in the country. The decline of PhD programmes lies at the centre of this. Barring a few exceptions, graduates of PhD programmes have not been exposed to the requisite rigour in their training and their original research that would enable them to become high-quality experts in their fields of study.
Academic degrees must reflect value, and more than any other degree, the PhD degree should be emblematic of the highest levels of quality. The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC), as the regulator of academic standards in the country, has recently notified a new regulatory framework that is firmly focused on raising the quality of PhD programmes in the country. The previous framework, which had led to low levels of quality and was badly in need of repair, has
The National University of Modern Languages has decided to give in to the demand of its protesting students and agreed to hold online examinations for the Fall semester. According to a notification issued by NUML s management, exams of the MS and MPhil programmes will be taken on campus while the rest of them will be conducted online. Students who have their exams from February 1 and are facing connectivity issues at home will be allowed to sit for them on the campus and will be provided internet, it read. Related: Resume on-campus classes then take physical exams, NUML students demand The decision was taken after students of the varsity took to the streets protesting agai.