President orders AIOU to address grievance of student fallen victim of varsity's neglect.

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Sunday directed the Vice Chancellor of Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) to decide the 'hardship case' of a student in her favour, who was declined the M.Ed degree due to maladministration of the university.

The President also set aside the findings of the Wafaqi Mohtasib (Federal Ombudsman), which had closed the case of the complainant student by referring to a judgement of the Supreme Court as saying that 'the courts should not interfere with the policy matters of educational institutions'. The complainant, Miss Asia Saeed Malik, had filed a representation with the President of Pakistan against the ruling of the Wafaqi Mohtasib.

The President, also the Chancellor of the University, termed the case unique where a "student was made the victim of the acts or omissions of the university officials in order to overcome its own maladministration".

Miss Asia Saeed, enrolled in the Master of Education (M.Ed) programme by AIOU, had appeared in the examination of Autumn 2017, but could not attend the workshop. She, however, was allowed by the AIOU to attend the workshop later in 2019 via letter No. F. M.Ed/MD Edu.-W/S (Spr-19) MN/115 dated 21.08.2019, but ultimately declined the degree.

Feeling aggrieved, the complainant approached the Wafaqi Mohtasib alleging injustice on part of the university. The AIOU contended that the permission to attend the workshop had been "mistakenly allowed by the staff and it was a fake letter and that...