Islamabad - The middle standard (scholarship) examinations are commencing from February 23, 2015 but, unfortunately, the administration of Islamabad Model College for Girls (IMCG), I-10/4, did not submit the list/forms of the students who are interested in scholarship exams.
The scholarship examination of Class-VIII is highly competitive examination which is conducted by Federal Directorate of Education every year in the month of February. It is optional for students to take part in this examination.
All the schools and model colleges are required to send the list of their students, who want to participate in scholarship examination, to FDE in the month of December. This is the negligence of the college administration that it could not send the required list in December, depriving many students who were interested in taking part in the scholarship examination. Getting scholarship is an honour for a student and he/she feels proud of it. Moreover, it is a way to compensate parents in term of study expenses.
Many parents have shown their disquiet over the apathy of college administration as it deliberately did not send the names of the students who were willing to participate. “My daughter is a brilliant student and she always stands first and second in class tests but her name was not sent to FDE for scholarship examination. I am quite sure if her name had been sent, she would definitely win scholarship,” complained one of the parents.
The college administration said that the student lacked willingness and thrill to participate in the exam; therefore, the forms were not submitted. “Due to security threats and anti-government protests this whole academic session was disturbed. Many brilliant students remained on leaves. It was noticed that that students were not willing to take part in the exams so the college did not send the admission forms,” said Vice-Principal IMCG Musarrat Bokhari.
An official of FDE on request of anonymity informed that about 25,000 student appear in scholarship exams of Class V and VIII both from public and private institutions annually. “It’s an absurd answer that the college did not send exam forms on account of security concerns when all other institutions have done so. It will be a great loss of students in terms of confidence and brilliance.”
The middle standard (scholarship) examination of FDE is not only an important platform to identify and search talented students but it also helps in finding out the weak and strong areas of the students. These exams are not only meant for the top position students to show their talent, but also for average students who are enthusiastic in attaining better results and gain confidence.
Professor Mehmood Ali Khokher, president H-8 college local unit of Federal Government College Teachers Association (FGCTA), said that scholarship exams encouraged conceptual understanding, enhanced power of analytical reasoning and developed self-confidence.
These types of exams show the promptness of young students to take up new challenges in higher classes so the students should be given the opportunity to participate in the examination, he stressed.
Mohammad Tahir, FDE spokesperson, when contacted said all the institutions were sent circulars so that they could submit the forms of the willing students on time. “Those who failed to fulfil this obligation would be asked why they refrained many brilliant students from taking the exam.”
“Now a little time has left as exams are going to be commenced from February 23 but we will see what can be done now if the students are willing to participate,” he said.