AFTER declaring unequivocally, in the face of increasing criticism, that the A-Levels and O-Levels examinations would be held on time, the federal government has taken yet another U-turn and declared all exams postponed till June 15 and the A-Levels and O-Levels till October. Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood, who has been piloting decisions about school closures and exams, announced at a press conference that the government had decided to postpone the examinationns because of the rapid rise of Covid-19 infections. However, till Tuesday, the minister had been insisting that the decision to let the exams take place was the final one. When students and parents across the country protested against the danger this adamancy by the education minister was placing the students in, and when many political leaders also joined the chorus, he dug in his heels even further. This forced tens of thousands of students to sit the examinations on Monday and Tuesday. However, on Tuesday, the minister took a U-turn and cancelled the decision that he had stood by so firmly.
For once, however, this U-turn by the PTI government should be welcomed. The minister was wrong in insisting that exams proceed at a time when the third wave of Covid-19 is wreaking havoc across the country. He has done right by righting his wrong. His decision was needlessly placing students in danger and dramatically increasing the chances of the infection spreading even further at a time when positivity rates are in double figures, hospitals are groaning under the pressure of patients and oxygen supplies are getting dangerously depleted. But while this U-turn by the federal government is a welcome one, it has come at a cost.
The students and their parents have had to endure weeks of agonising uncertainty, educational institutions have had to make hurried preparations while facing the danger of the pandemic and the courts have had to entertain multiple petitions on the issue. All this could have been avoided had the federal education minister handled the matter with greater maturity.
He should have had a greater level of consultation with all stakeholders and also taken into account how this issue was being handled by other countries. The U-turn will save the students from the danger of the infection but it should not stop Prime Minister Imran Khan from taking his education minister to task for his gross mismanagement of the issue.
Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2021