Marking papers is a serious business.

IN Pakistan, there are 145 universities in the public sector and 99 in the private sector registered with the Higher Education Commission (HEC). All these universities are following the HEC policy guidelines for the implementation of a uniform semester system in higher education institutions of the country.

Section 11.1 of the guidelines reads, '... in each semester, students may be required to appear in quizzes, tests, midterms, final examinations, presentations (individual/group), group discussion, and submit projects/assignments/lab reports, etc. These assignment marks (to be determined by the teacher concerned) will have different weightage contributing towards the overall assessment in per cent...'

Some teachers use this authority and ask the senior students to mark the papers of the juniors. This has happened at various institutions, including Islamia College University, Peshawar, and Islamia University, Bahawalpur, according to the students enrolled in those institutions.

So, how should a paper be made and marked? It depends on the semester teacher. Who should be given the grace marks? It also depends on the semester teacher. Who should be a failure? To a great extent, it also depends on the semester teacher.

It is because of these guidelines that university...