KARACHI, Dec 1: City government’s education department is allegedly allowing the students to attend classes at the intermediate institution, other than those to which they were sent through Centralized Admission Policy-2003, despite a ban imposed by the city Nazim in this regard.

City Nazim Naimatullah Khan, through a notification, a few weeks back, had clamped a ban on transfers or allowing the first year students to take classes at the colleges or institutions, other than they were admitted under the CAP.

City education department officials, including EDO, Higher Education, Prof Raees Alvi, argued that it was an old practice to allow students, especially those living far away from the colleges they were admitted to, or those physically incapable of taking classes at far-off colleges.

However, they clarified that such students had to appear in the examinations from their original colleges, they had been admitted into prior to start of academic session at the city colleges.

Sources at the city education department disclosed that the facility to allow some students to take classes at the colleges of their ‘choice’ or ‘convenience’ was introduced by the Centralized Admission Committee (CAC), after allegedly failing to accommodate some ‘influential’ students at the some reputed city intermediate colleges, “in violation of merit.”

Currently, hundreds of students were taking classes at various city colleges, after getting permissions from the principals of their respective colleges, where they were placed, the sources alleged.

Several ‘transferred’ students and their parents said that they were even facilitated by some members of the CAC in getting permission from principals of the colleges involved in transfers.

A member of CAC, when approached, said it was not against the rules, as such permissions were granted to facilitate students and to save them from inconvenience.

“As per merit, many of the students were placed at the colleges far away from their residences and when they contacted us to provide them relaxation, we facilitated them in taking classes at the colleges near their residences,” he added.

However, he categorically denied that the students had been allowed to take classes at “colleges of their choice,” as it was impossible to accommodate such a large number of students at few reputed intermediate institutions in the city.—PPI