Landi Kotal students block highway over delayed semester exams

KHYBER: Students of Postgraduate Degree College Landi Kotal held a protest on Monday against the delay in their semester examinations, blaming the University of Peshawar for not issuing a fresh schedule after earlier papers were postponed.

The demonstrators carried banners and placards in support of their demands and also blocked the Peshawar-Torkham Highway for a period during the protest. The students said exams for different semesters had originally been due in February but were put off because of tensions on the border with Afghanistan.

According to the protesting students, the University of Peshawar had assured them the examinations would be conducted once the border situation improved. They said no revised timetable had since been announced, adding that the delay had put their academic year at risk.

The students also said their final term examinations are scheduled to begin on July 15, but they would not be allowed to appear in them until they clear their previous papers. They warned that if the authorities did not announce an examination schedule within two days, they would expand their protest to the chief minister’s secretariat in Peshawar.