PESHAWAR: Apparently unaware of the rules set by the Khyber Medical University Peshawar, students of private allied health sciences institutions on Friday staged a protest demonstration for not arranging special examinations.

They blocked the busy Bagh-i-Naran Chowk in Hayatabad for a couple of hours for not retaking the papers they didn’t qualify in the previous examination.

The students protested against the KMU’s administration, which is responsible for holding examinations for private medical institutions.

They blocked the intersection for several hours, causing problems for motorists. A long queue of vehicles was seen on several Hayatabad roads, which passed through the Bagh-i-Naran Chowk.

The students shouted slogans against the KMU administration and said they held several meetings with the administration, which agreed to take their examination in the failed papers.

They said they had also deposited fees for the papers they had to reappear for, but on Friday when they reached KMU campus, the administration refused to arrange those papers.

When contacted, KUM Vice Chancellor Prof Ziaul Haq said the protesters belonged to the private institutions and were not promoted in their previous examinations as they hadn’t qualified half of their subjects in the relevant disciplines.

He said under rules of the Higher Education Commission and KMU, the students who didn’t succeed in the 50 per cent subjects of their courses couldn’t be promoted to the next class.

The VC rejected the claims of students that the university had arranged the examination for them, saying neither the university had agreed with the students for taking the examination nor had the university issued any date sheet for the papers.

He said the students who were not promoted were five to six per cent of the total strength and was demanding a special examination for them.

“There is no rule of the university that allows special exams,” he said.

The VC said the administration held a meeting with protesting students, agreed to check their “failed” papers, and promised “justice if marks weren’t awarded on merit.”

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2025