KARACHI, Oct 21: The academic council of the Karachi University has put on hold pre-entry tests for morning students of bachelors’ programme till the next year and has set up a body to look into the matter.

The decision was taken at a meeting held on Tuesday.

The proposal met with strong opposition from council members and it was decided that a committee be set up to look into the matter.

It is said that the council, which is supposed to hold a regular monthly meeting, will now meet next year to review the committee’s recommendations.

Prof Saleem Memon is the convener of the committee which consists of Prof Shaheed Nomani, Prof Shakeel Khan, Prof Jamil Kazmi, Prof Arif Kamal and Prof Majid Mumtaz.

Another committee has been set up to look into the possibility of making the KU a testing service provider on the lines of Graduate Record Examination (GRE).

Fauzia Shamim is the convener of the committee that includes Professor (Dr) Mustafa Kamal and Dr Shoaib Qureshi as its members.

The council’s meeting had assumed a greater significance following the National Testing Service (NTS) pre-entry test fiasco that occurred last Sunday.

The day was marked with acute mismanagement, especially on the part of the KU administration that had allowed a private organisation to give admission test to its masters and PhD programme candidates.

The students, mostly KU graduates, had to endure a lot of inconvenience and many ineligible candidates, who turned up on the day, had to surrender their Rs500 fee, as it was non-refundable.

Another viewpoint

Commenting on the developments, Dr Nasiruddin Khan, the head of a centralised science laboratory at Karachi University, said: “I believe that there is no need for the KU administration to give admission tests to fresh students of bachelors’ or masters’ programme. But, if the administration insists, they should rather give pre-entry test to students of the evening programme. Students of this programme come from different fields and boards of education and on top of that the university has put a restriction on age.

“It is too difficult to deal with these students. I am teaching students who are older than me and also come across those who didn’t even know the spelling of the word ‘chemistry’. I feel sorry for these students who pay over Rs20,000 for each semester and have no clue about the subject,” he added.

While the meeting was in progress, a group of students representing the Student Alliance protested against the admission policies and rise in the fees of forms.

They demanded that the administration introduce an open merit system and avoid holding pre-entry tests for admission.