Court to protect educational rights

LAHORE Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed of the Lahore High Court on Wednesday has observed that the court will protect constitutional rights of education of the students so that their future is safe. Hearing a petition filed in the public interest by M/S Muhammad and Ahmad against the condition of B-form for the admission to Matric and Intermediate classes and appearance of the candidates in the Board examination, the court remarked that through this petition the court was looking into every aspect to protect future of the students and till that is ensured, hearing of the matter will be continued. The petitioner through advocate Muhammad Azhar Siddique has drawn a heart rending picture of the plight of the students and their parents in the act of getting B-form for the students from the Nadra office. The petitioner is at pain while informing the court that the students and the parents have to spend days and money to get the form and many of them despite doing all that remain failed to get it which has cost them loss of academic year of the students. Last day, the Nadra and the BISE counsel prayed to the court for dismissing the petition for the fact the students who failed to appear in the examination due to non-availability of the forms, had been allowed to sit in the examination and they had taken the test as such the petition had become ineffective. Advocate Siddique on the other hand opposed the request and said the instant petition was brought to the court when the issue of B-form was created by the respondents making its production as mandatory condition to appear in the examination. He said this condition has caused the students multiple complex difficulties without any fault of theirs. He said such restriction was imposed by the Board and not by Nadra. He said the Board introduced this condition without perceiving and taking stock of the problems which confronted the students which is an issue still needs to be decided. He said the recruitment of incompetent persons by the board to run its computerized system was another issue still unresolved. The court adjourned further hearing of the case till after summer vacation in the Lahore High Court.