Future of private BA, MA students hangs in balance Dawn 10 January 2021 Thousands of students, who are enrolled in higher education as private candidates, would no longer be able to continue their education after 31 March as the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has directed the universities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to stop enrolment of private students for BA and MA examinations, writes Mohammad Ashfaq for Dawn. However, HEC and universities in the province have not developed any alternate system for private students, who are in-service or couldn’t get admission in colleges and universities for multiple reasons, according to sources. Out of the 30 public sector universities, this scribe got data of a few according to which 30,000 students appeared as private candidates in the bachelor of arts (BA) examination conducted by Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan last year, 25,000 students in University of Peshawar, 20,450 in Bannu University and more than 11,000 appeared in the examination conducted by Gomal University in Dera Ismail Khan.