ISLAMABAD, March 10: Students appearing in the coming BA/BSc exams of Punjab University (PU) are worried because they will have to take two papers in a day.

On the other hand students who have applied for improvement and submitted their original mark sheets to the university are even more worried because they feared they won’t be able to improve grades and may end up securing lesser marks than they earlier did, students and their parents told Dawn.

According to sources, over 170,000 students take part in BA/BSc exams of the PU each year. University has circulated date sheet for the written examination and according to it, exams will start from April 4 and end on May 4.

According to the date sheet, in some papers there is a gap of three to seven days but on the other hand there are some back to back papers due to which students will get no time to prepare.

But the most annoying is the fact that some students have two papers in a day – one in the morning and another in the evening.

Nazir Ahmed who is a teacher by profession said: “PU was established in 1882 due to which it has respect and for the students it is a matter of honour that they graduate from an institute affiliated with it but management of the university does not care about the students due to which complaints against the university are continuously on the rise”.

Mohammad Asim told Dawn that his brother has paper of education and political science on the same day due to which he is very tense.

Mohammad Akhtar said that on April 26, his son will take the exam of Computer Studies - I and on the same day will attend the exam of Statistics - I, in evening. Similarly, on May 2, he will have exam of Computer Studies-II and Statistics-II as they arescheduled for the same day.

“My niece graduated from PU but she wanted to get better marks so she decided to improve her grades and applied for reappearing in the exam but now she is worried as she might get lesser marks as compared to her previous result”, he added.

Another student, Ijaz told Dawn that on April 30, in the morning there will be exam of Psychology and in the evening there will be exam of Arabic and it will become impossible for him to pass both exams in flying colours.

“Although I am prepared for both but after solving a 3-hour long paper in the morning fingers stop working and that is worrying me”, he said.

Professor Javed Iqbal said, “Students should prepare for the exam long before its start but still asking students to attempt two papers in a day is unfair because after solving one paper they should get some time to relax”.

Students and their parents have appealed to Vice Chancellor, PU that he – being himself a part of teachers’ fraternity – should take notice of the issue and instruct the relevant department to issue a new date sheet for the exams.

“We will not mind exam being held on Saturdays and Sundays but asking a student to appear in two papers a day is really unjust and it should not happen. We have also sent electronic mails (e-mails) to university to solve our problem”, they said.

Public Relations Officer (PRO) of Punjab University, Khurram Shahzad while talking to Dawn said it was not in his knowledge that students would have to take two papers a day. He said he will apprise the VC on the issue besides talking to relevant department to ensure that the issue is resolved within a week.

For the convenience of affected students he gave the VC’s e-mail address – vc@pu.edu.pk – so that they could make him realise the gravity of the issue by sending him e-mails.