October was the month of student protests in Punjab after Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) declared erroneous results. The BISE Rawalpindi was a source of controversy earlier this year for failing to properly generate students' roll number online. Though there were opposing stories about the time consumed by BISE officials in order to resolve the issue, students were the one who bore the consequences.
Eventually, just 10 days before the exams, the officials managed to manually allocate and send out roll numbers to students. Also, there were reports about a private school mafia manipulating the BISE officials to ensure the online system fails to deliver since the manual result preparation leaves enough room for them to influence results in favour of their students. These were serious allegations, which should be taken into consideration, if proved, they will be indicative of a much more sinister game at play here than just mere mismanagement.
A word of concern must be written about the demonstrations staged by students. Their outrage at their futures being so casually dismissed is understandable and reflected by society at large. Peaceful demonstration is a right of all citizens, but violence and burning public property is by no means acceptable. Such behaviour as displayed by students shows the absence of civic responsibility among the younger generation. It reflects the failure of an education system, which has failed to instil the importance of dialogue, respect for law, and a sense of responsibility in the youth of today.