The Islamabad High Court has disposed of a petition on holding online exams filed by students of the National University of Modern Languages, Islamabad.

Two students, Ali Bin Shafaat and Sharyar Abbasi, filed the petition on January 18. They challenged the university’s decision to hold on-campus examinations for fall semester 2020-2021 for which classes were held online.

The court sent the case to the Higher Education Commission and said it can’t intervene in the matter because it relates to policy making.

In the petition, the students said the university’s management had issued dates for online examinations but then backtracked and issued a schedule for on-campus examinations.

The classes were taken online, the petitioners said, adding that it is not possible for the students to take on-campus exams as the lectures weren’t even delivered to them properly.

They said the management “refused to listen to petitioners” and their grievances fell on deaf ears. “The university did not consider the rights and demands” of the students, the petition said.

They requested the court to instruct the university to hold online exams.

On January 18, the students of NUML took to the streets protesting against the varsity’s on-campus exams. “Throughout the fall semester we took classes online and now the university has suddenly decided to take exams on campus,” a protesting student said.

The protesters have demanded the university return their half-semester fee and the money charged for transport service and hostels.

Varsities across the country moved their final exams on campus in January after the government announced that universities will reopen from February 1.

They said that the government is already reopening universities from February 1, so they might as well just delay the exam date and take the finals in person.