MIANWALI, March 6: Barring of 26 FSc (part-II) students from appearing in the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education annual examinations, 2005, has sparked a controversy here over the decision of the principal of the Abdul Razzaq Fazaia College, Mianwali.

The students have to allegedly pay Rs200,000 to a private college, having affiliation with FBISE, for getting registered for exams as regular candidates.

When contacted, college principal Squadron Leader Syed Nasir Mehmood said the said 26 students could not clear their send-up and pre-board tests held in December and February, respectively, while their parents, despite repeated warnings issued by college administration, had failed to bring any improvement in their performance.

He said out of 200 students of FSc part-II batch, retention of 26 students was 'no big affair', adding that the college could not compromise on quality of education as was desired by its Central Command (Air Headquarters).

The parents argued that if the students were not performing well in college tests, they should have been expelled soon after part-I examination, which had saved both students and their parents from the hardship just ahead of the final examination.

They also levelled corruption allegations against the college administration and appealed to the Base Commander, Air Commodore Tahir Rafique Butt, also institute chairman, to hold an inquiry into this matter.

Some parents claimed that they had paid Rs6,000 to Rs10,000 per student to the private institute only to get their children registered for the final examination. They further alleged that they had been paying heavy amounts to the institute, including Rs1,345 monthly, as college fee, Rs2,000 academy fees, besides conveyance charges of Rs600.

When contacted, some of the expelled students, Aamir, Awais, Matiullah, Asif and Manoon, claimed their performance in the Part-I examination remained satisfactory. Almost all the expelled students alleged that some of the teachers leaked out the papers, while the male students were forced to pay heavy fines for breaching college discipline.

They also alleged that the students who failed in their send-up tests but cleared their pre-board tests were charged double admission fees. The students vowed to launch protest against their expulsion from the college.