Late academic session: 85,000 students of class-XI likely to be affected

The academic future of some 85,000 first year (class-XI) students of Karachi colleges and higher secondary schools is likely to be affected due to starting their classes three months late this year.
The academic session in the colleges and schools had to start from August 1, 2007 but due to late announcement of the Matriculation results by the Board Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK), the admission process could not take place on time.
Usually, the matriculation examinations take place in the months of April or May and BSEK announces the results in mid of August every year, but this year due to delay in issuing the consolidated mark sheets to students by the board, the CAP Committee was compelled to extend the admission process again and again to facilitate admission seekers.
This year, the academic session of all faculties including pre-medical, pre-engineering, computer science, commerce and arts started in mid of September.
The city witnessed a tragic incidents like killing of some five students and injuring of four others in a minibus attack near Karachi University in September and October 18 Karachi carnage, affecting admission process and academic session. The pace of submission of application forms for admission to the city colleges was also slow due to delay in issuance of marks sheets.
The BSEK had been directed to expedite the process of results and meet deadlines set by the education department so that classes of first year could be commenced at time, but no matching steps were taken in this regard.
Besides the late start of classes, the coming general elections expected in January 2008 would also affect the academic session. The colleges also hold terminal examinations and other activities, suspending studies, which would also affect the academic year. Interestingly, the colleges normally suspend teaching activities some ten days before the commencement of annual examinations. Professor Liaquat Aziz Solangi, the general secretary, Sindh Professor's Lecturers Association (SPLA) told PPI that there was no need to establish an admission committees like CAP for Karachi as the other cities of the province do not have such committees. He said all other boards in the province usually complete the admission process within 15 days.