THE Inter-Board Committee of Chairmen (IBCC) issued a notification earlier this year, directing universities to accept only documents that are attested by the IBCC during the admission process in order to ensure authenticity of the documents, and to counter issues related to fake or forged documents.

Initially unpopular, the notification came into the limelight when the University of Health Sciences (UHS) in Lahore made IBCC attestation mandatory for those planning to sit the Medical and Dental Colleges’ Admissions Test (MDCAT).

Naturally, students rushed to the relevant attestation portal to get an appointment. As an aspirant, I did the same. The portal worked nice, but due to heavy online traffic, I did not get an early appointment, and had to wait for 20 days.

On the due date, I reached the IBCC regional office in Lahore. The environ-ment was quite unwelcoming. Estab-lished in Queen Plaza, the office building is a partly constructed (more precisely, an under-construction) building. With only one serving window, I saw a throng of students, waiting to get the necessary attestation. Irregular queues exposed the lack of system and planning.

The main regional IBCC office in Punjab is in a terrible state. Though an IBCC regional office is also located in Bahawalpur, it is generally of no help, and students prefer to travel all the way to Lahore to get things done. A centre serving such a large number of students must have a proper building and standar- dised procedures.

The authorities concerned should look into the matter, and ensure that students are able to get their stuff done with due ease in a facilitated environment.

Hassan Siaf
Rajanpur

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2023