CUI faces backlash over objectionable question paper as matter referred to Senate body
Pakistan
The Senate deputy chairman referred the issue to the Senate Standing Committee on Education.
ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) – The issue of an objectionable question paper at the Comsats University Islamabad (CUI) was referred to the Senate Standing Committee on Education on Tuesday.
After a visiting lecturer at the CUI distributed an objectionable question paper among the students in the Bachelor of Electrical Engineering's first semester, Senators Mushtaq Ahmed and Dr Zarqa Suharwardy raised their concerns and requested a proper investigation into the matter. As a result, the Senate deputy chairman referred the issue to the Standing Committee on Education for investigation.
The university has already terminated the services of the visiting lecturer and blacklisted the person for future employment at the CUI. The matter has caused significant backlash on social media.
The CUI administration wrote to the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) on Feb 2 to apprise that it had initiated [an] inquiry into the content of the quiz. The letter stated that the administration had already taken action and the services of the lecturer (visiting faculty) had been terminated from Jan 5, 2023. The faculty member, it further stated, had also been blacklisted.
Students were “shocked” when they came across the question asking them to write 300 words on the topic.
Additional Registrar Naveed Ahmed Khan said when the rector called the lecturer to explain the matter, he admitted his mistake which culminated in his termination. “He had plagiarised the question from Google,” he added. The quiz, he said, was retaken.
