Pressure mounts on Shafqat Mehmood to cancel CIEs

KARACHI: With Covid-19 there has come a great deal of uncertainty and, as a result, students have suffered a great deal. With schools being shut down, they had to readjust with studying online. Currently with the third and more deadly wave of the pandemic raging on with an alarmingly increasing death rate, students and parents have been pressurizing the Minister of Education, Shafqat Mahmood to cancel the upcoming CIE exams. Many students have come out to protest while some used the power of social media to start their petition. The online efforts did not go to waste as celebrities too used their influence to show support to the students. Recently, Jibran Nasir joined those ranks and has become an advocate for students.

Taking to social media platforms, Nasir highlighted the fact that “Pakistan reports more than 100 deaths due to Covid for 4 straight days.” He went on to tag Mahmood in his post holding the minister accountable for “putting students through unprecedented and unimaginable anxiety and stress.” The reason for the anxiety and stress, as per Nasir, is having to “focus on the paper while risking their life.”

Nasir went on to make another post with a screenshot of a post made by Cambridge Assessment International Education labelled, “Update for schools in India.” The text read that keeping in mind the “increasing number of Covid 19 cases in the country” India won’t have exams and will instead focus on school assessed grades. In his caption he stressed on the fact that “from Bangladesh to KSA, Pakistan is the only country in the region holding physical exams because while other countries prioritise health you cower under pressure of lobbies.”

Nasir isn’t the only one advocating on behalf of students. Earlier, Asim Azhar and Hadiqa Kiani also expressed their support for students on this matter. However, it seems as though Shafqat Mahmood is unfazed with the pressure and seems to be sticking to his decision.