University students protest in Pakistan in favor of online-exams

University students in Pakistan are protesting across the country in favour of online exams.  

All universities in Pakistan switched to online studies due to COVID-19. In Pakistan, the COVID-19 situation is getting better and under control in comparison to the rest of the world. In the last 24 hours only 1508 cases are confirmed out of 44,173 tests with 31 deaths. That is why Pakistani university managers are planning to schedule on-campus exams, but students are not only opposing this idea, but they are also protesting against it in different cities including in the capital of Pakistan, Islamabad.

 Sana Shahid, 19, is a law student since the fall 2020 session, at Bahria University, Islamabad Campus. She said she has been taught online since the beginning of fall 2020.  

“I will go for online exams because it is very obvious that we have also given our mids online, so it is quite daunting for us to come to campus because we have not been trained in this specific manner,” Shahid said. “Then moving on second and the most important thing is that following the standard operating procedures (SOPs) which are given by government.”    

According to her, the students always violate SOPs. And an example of this was midterm exams which were taken online later on because students did not take care of SOPs. She also said moving towards the third part was about fair checking of examination.   

Another student, Tehreema Afraz, 19, said she was also in favour of online exams. She is also studying law and enrolled in fall 2020. 

“Covid is not over and I don’t want to risk my life or my family’s life by attending on-campus exams,” said Afraz. “That’s why we all students are protesting for online exams.”  

Sobia Shujaat, 41, is a senior assistant professor who has also been performing duties as a deputy director of quality assurance at Bahria University, Islamabad. She considers on-campus exams as a chance for students to have the experience of attending university. This is because after COVID-19, all had to leave abruptly. Shujaat said there is also a concern about cheating in online exams. 

“The primary reason for taking physical on-campus exams is, maybe, to avoid plagiarism among students because when conducting online exams,  students usually sit together and take papers in groups,” said Shujaat.  

She said another challenge they were facing is that students are protesting for online exams as they had taken online classes.  

“So we are also looking into the possibilities how to cater this problem as we have to address students’ queries as well,” said Shujaat. “Currently, we have plan to call students on campus, however, higher education is also considering this request and they have given open hand to the universities.”  

She said they have options either to call students on-campus or to conduct online exams, they expect to reach a final decision soon.