KARACHI, March 10: The public sector higher education institutes in the city have adopted different policies for March 13, which has been declared as local holiday by the provincial government on account of cricket match between Pakistan and India.

According to sources in the academic circle, no uniform policy is being observed in the case of "much stressed" holiday. Some of the educational institutes have decided to put off teaching activities while a few others have planned to hold exams as per schedule on the day.

An official of Karachi University said that though an official notification was still due in connection with March 13, the high ups had decided to observe the holiday in line with the decision of Sindh government.

Meanwhile, the Controller of Examinations, KU, has notified that the paper of Paediatrics, which was scheduled for March 13, would now be held on March 16. The date has been changed in view of the over all public sentiments and traffic inconvenience on the day, said a source.

When contacted the Dean of Medicines at KU, Prof Tipu Sultan, he said that the theory paper and viva of MBBS exams would soon be rescheduled by medical colleges concerned.

The vice-chancellor of Dow University of Health Sciences, Dr Masood Hameed, said that teaching activities would remain suspended on the holiday. However, a college source said that the university administration was in negotiation with a few private parties to arrange big screens in DMC auditorium to watch one-day match between Pakistan and India.

It was learnt that teaching activities would remain suspended at the NED University of Engineering and Technology on the local holiday, however, the exams would be conducted as per schedule.

For the Institute of Business Administration, an official at the its city campus said that no decision had been taken with regard to holiday so far and any final say would come from IBA's university campus.

However, some of the teachers said that there were fifty per cent chances to observe holiday at the IBA. "The government has taken the decision to allow people to watch cricket match and as such the IBA students should not be deprived of the opportunity," said a student.

Late Wednesday night, IBA Director Danishmand told Dawn that the institute had not planned any holiday. "Unless we are asked in a clear term by our controlling authority (the governor) to observe holiday on March 13, we can not do so," he added.

An official of the Federal Urdu University for Arts, Sciences and Technology said the administration had circulated that both teaching classes as well as examinations would not be conducted at the university on March 13. The Principal of Dawood College of Engineering and Technology, Prof Salim Chaudhary, said the college had decided not to observe the local holiday.

BSE EXAMS: The Board of Secondary Education has already postponed its paper pertaining to annual examinations from March 13 to March 22.