MULTAN: Government Emerson College students of MSc have demanded grace marks or re-examination of bacteriology and virology paper, which they say was out of syllabus.

The students of Botany MSc (2015-17) have written to the examination controller of the Bahauddin Zakariya University that the final term examination of their first semester was to be held on Feb 8 but it was delayed till May 24.

They said earlier the college staff was conducting the examination but this time university’s examination branch conducted the paper.They said they brought the matter into the notice of the college principal but in vain.

They demanded that either they be given grace marks or the university administration give them another paper from the syllabus. They said practical examinations began very after the written papers but the schedule for the practical assessment had yet to be announced.

They feared the university administration would delay the practical examinations for another few months.

They said the college administration had made more admissions against its allocated strength but in this process they were not at fault as they had been admitted to the classes on merit.

They also demanded that their next exams be conducted by the college administration or along the university students.

Principle Dr Muhammad Saleem said the exams had been delayed for his predecessor had admitted 200 students against the reserved number of 40 students.

“I requested the vice chancellor to accept all admissions and the university’s syndicate approved those on April 21,” he said. He said students should contact him if their paper was out of syllabus.

Controller Dr Mutahir Iqbal said the exams were delayed due to non-cooperation of the college administration. He said the college had to submit the result of mid-term examinations to the university’s examination branch but the college did so after his personal interference.

He said it was not possible to conduct the exams of the college students with the students of the university.

“Even the exams of evening classes are not held along the exams of morning classes,” he said.

He said the paper’s content issue would be forwarded to the academic council for review.

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2016