ISLAMABAD: The end-of-the-semester exams at the National University of Modern Languages (NUML) would be conducted online, the varsity’s media official confirmed on Thursday.
In a notification shared on Twitter, the NUML Islamabad’s Public Relations Officer (PRO) said the decision was taken “in pursuance of the government instructions and HEC [Higher Education Commission] guidelines”.
“It is hereby notified that end-term exams of Fall 2020 semester will be conducted” in two stages, the notification read, adding that there would be an online exam of 30 marks and a 20-mark viva, with the schedule for the latter to “be issued by the concerned departments”.
However, “PhD/M.Phil/MS, Languages (Functional Courses) and lab related exam will be held on campus.”
The varsity offered students who were facing connectivity issues at home to “use IT facilities at NUML campuses” as well as university transport “on all existing routes during exam days”.
HEC allows online exams
A day prior, the HEC had formally allowed universities across Pakistan to conduct online exams, with Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood saying he was “happy” over the decision.
“This paves the way for them to devise the right procedures quickly to do so. Education standards must be kept up,” Mehmood had said on Twitter. “Work hard students and wish you the best,” the minister had added.
The HEC in a press release had said it was “up to the universities to decide whether they wanted to conduct in-person or online exams,” with the announcement coming days after protests against on-campus examinations caught pace all over Pakistan and turned violent earlier this week.
Protests rage across Pakistan
Several students had sustained injuries after they got into a clash with security guards during demonstrations against in-person examinations, with five confirmed wounded and one in critical condition. Reports had indicated the some of them were arrested as well.
“The apprehensions of students were reviewed carefully in consultation with the vice-chancellors of all the provinces and regions, keeping in view the difficulties brought about by the pandemic and opening of universities from February 01, 2021,” the HEC had said.
The education regulatory body, however, warned that universities against cheating and advised them to use Turnitin — a plagiarism detection software — “to check the similarity index with web and the answers of other students”.
The HEC also warned the universities that on-campus exams could only be conducted under strict compliance with all of the COVID-19 protocols.
