KARACHI: Scores of students of nursing schools staged a demonstration outside the offices of the Nursing Examination Board Sindh (NEBS) on Thursday in protest against recently issued results which showed more than half of the candidates had failed their exam in the first such instance in decades.

The students, who were admitted to 100 schools of nursing, gathered outside the NEBS headquarters near Kalapul carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans against the board hierarchy’s ‘unfair and concocted’ results issued a day earlier.

NEBS officials said that up to 51 per cent of the 10,403 candidates who appeared in various courses, including the first, second and third year of the main nursing course, community midwifery and specialisation courses etc, were among those who could not clear their papers. “It is the first time in decades that more than half of the total candidates have failed,” said a board official.

The officials, however, said the results of the students admitted to institutions, which had not obtained pre-registration with the Pakistan Nursing Council (PNC), had been withheld.

They said that earlier, it was normal practice that such schools would get their students to appear and pass examinations without having to secure pre-registration with PNC.

“The fate of such students will be decided after their schools get them duly registered with the council,” said an official.

Sources in the board said the results had been awaited for more than four months as the new incumbent reportedly found gross irregularities in the entire process after the retirement of its past controller.

They said the copies of examinations had been rechecked, which resulted in radical decrease in the ratio of candidates who passed the examination. “The pass percentage was more than 72pc but after rechecking of the copies it dropped to merely 49pc,” said a source.

The board officials did not elaborate what action had been taken against those who were involved in the alleged malpractices.

A senior official promised that action against those involved in the racket was in the offing.

The protesters at the demonstration questioned the authenticity of the results and said that the result showed them failing the examination, while they had never failed in past.

“The delays the board officials made in issuing the result and punishing us shows a big game is being played with our future,” said a student of the second year.

“Declare the result void and get our copies rechecked by some independent organisation,” said another student.

The protesters said that they would hold more rallies till their demands for action against the new board hierarchy and re-evaluation of papers were accepted.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2017