ISLAMABAD: The Senate Education Committee deliberated at length on the revival of the students union after half a century and maintained that its revival should be improvised according to new trends and the mindset of the young generation.

The Senate Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training met on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Senator Irfanul Haq Siddiqui here at the Parliament House.

The committee took up a bill titled “The Islamabad Capital Territory Student Union Bill 2023,” introduced by Senator Bahramand Khan Tangi.

The mover of the bill said that issues of students could only be resolved through the collaboration of the management and the elected bodies.

The committee was of the view that in order to address issues prevailing in the student community and ensure a democratic and inclusive atmosphere for healthy debate and cultural intellect, a student union should be established in the Islamabad Capital Territory, which will play its role as a nursery for training future leadership and will provide forums to students for constructive activities, civic life, understanding of rights and obligations, and their enforcement.

The committee chairman emphasised that the revival of a student union should be drafted in such a way that it must not become a hub of politics and must be above party lines. He said that the revival must be improvised in a way that is trendy and facilitates the students at its maximum.

The committee chairman deferred voting on the bill until the next meeting and sought a report from the Ministry of Education and HEC on this bill.

The matter of regularising the services of the daily wage of teachers was also discussed in the meeting. The chairman committee extended the time for report and implementation by two weeks in the hope that the matter would be resolved with a special focus on all the teachers to be regularised as per the decision of the higher courts. It was also directed by the committee that the minimum daily wage given to the teachers should be Rs 35,000.

The committee also discussed the procedure, criteria, and practice for rechecking examinations under the Federal Board of Intermediate &Secondary Education (FBISE). The committee chairs inquired about the number of complaints reported for re-checking, to which the chairman of the FBISE replied that around 10 to 14 pc of complaints were made for re-checking. The chairman of the FBISE explained to the committee the entire mechanism of marking and checking the papers and the services they are providing to students in this regard.

He said that the FBISE had upgraded the entire system, and now it is computerised and the ratio of complaints has been declined. He further said that after the upgradation of the system, the concession of rechecking should also be removed.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2023