COVID-19: Pak students, activists demand resignation of Education Minister for failure to cancel exams

Several students and social activists have initiated an online campaign demanding the resignation of Pakistan's Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood over his failure to get the Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE) examination postponed.

O and A level students took to Twitter running a #ResignShafqatMahmood hashtag. They sought grades on the basis of teachers' assessment and complete cancellation of the examination, reported Dawn.

"I am extremely upset at this point. @Shafqat_Mahmood is being totally inconsiderate and must be sacked for what he has done," said one Twitter user.

Rights activist Jibran Nasir issued a statement in support of the students, saying that the students had been protesting for weeks and also filed petitions in all high courts but no one listened to them.

He also slammed the minister's failure to convince the Cambridge Assessment International Education for teacher's assessment.

"Can we trend #ResignShafqatMahmood until he starts making effort to get #Cambridge to offer #SAGs to Pakistan and also so that everyone specially @ImranKhanPTI realises the magnitude of his failures and how it will impact all A and Olevels students," he tweeted.

He further said the students would be left behind for six months if they would have to take examinations in October and November and they would not be promoted to the next grade.

Earlier, the minister announced that no examinations would take place in the country until June 15 amid a surge in coronavirus cases.

He also announced the postponement of O and A level exams being conducted from last week and said the exams would now take place in the October-November cycle, while adding A2 exams were not cancelled for those students who wanted to appear for the purpose of applying to foreign universities, Dawn reported.

Meanwhile, the All Pakistan Private Schools Association (APPSA) criticised the government's decision to cancel all examinations till Eid-ul-Fitr, with APPSA president Kashif Mirza saying that the government has failed to implement Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and cancelling the exams would leave a drastic impact on the future of students.

On the other hand, the Punjab School Education Department (SED) on Tuesday announced closing all public and private schools in the province till Eid-ul-Fitr due to increasing COVID-19 cases, reported Dawn.

Pakistan's total cases of COVID-19 infection have already crossed the 800,000-mark and the death toll from the coronavirus has reached 17,530.

In the last 24 hours, Pakistan has reported 201 more COVID deaths, the highest number in a single day since the pandemic broke out in the country last year, ARY News reported.

( With inputs from ANI )