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RAWALPINDI, Jul 29 (APP):Protest by the nursing students against change in passing percentage has convinced the authorities to review the decision enhanced 60% passing marks.
Nursing students at the District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital Nursing College in Rawalpindi lodged a protest against a new policy implemented by the University of Health Sciences (UHS) in which the passing percentage of each semester was enhanced to 60%, putting tens of hundreds students in failed category. The majority of the students were granted a probationary period for improvement, according to new policy, which raised the passing marks for the BS Nursing exams from the previously announced 50% to 60%, and has led to significant unrest among the nursing students.
UHS has held comprehensive meetings regarding the impact of new policy, after seeing students’ protests held at multiple nursing colleges.
Yasir Sultan, Public Affair head at the university informed APP that a notification has been issued by the university saying that all students would follow the rules which were in exercise at the time of their admission.
“The curriculum and assessment policy for all undergraduate semester-based degree programs of the University of Health Sciences Lahore, including BS Nursing, shall remain aligned with the ‘Policy Guidelines for Implementation of Uniform Semester System in HEIs of Pakistan’ of the Higher Education Commission (HEC), as approved by the UHS Syndicate in its 77th meeting, held on 29th December 2023”, says the notification.
The notification further clarifies that the BS Nursing Batch of 2023-2024 has been enrolled under the new semester-based curriculum and assessment framework, in line with the HEC guidelines, as was notified vide letter No. UHS/REG-24/139 dated 07-01-2024. These students shall continue to be governed by the same rules and regulations for the assessment throughout the duration of their degree program.
According to the notification, ‘the ‘Statutes and Regulations for Semester-Based Undergraduate Degree Programs (Allied Health Sciences, BS Nursing and Pharm D)’, as notified vide letter No. UHS/REG-25/1230 dated 05-06-2025, shall be applicable to the students to be admitted from the academic session 2025-2026 and onwards”.
The Principal Rawalpindi DHQ Nursing College confirmed the APP that UHS was reconsidering the policy after the protest by the students.
“We have to follow the HEC policies, however a comprehensive meeting was called to deal with issues in favourable manners”, she said denying any confirmed decision.
Yasir Sultan further informed that another comprehensive meeting was still underway to address the issue, saying “the decision of the meeting will be notified”.
On the other side, students reps are confident about the reversion of passing marks to 50%.
Earlier during the protest, students strongly rejected an abrupt change in passing marks claiming more than 4,000 students across the province were declared failed, while many others were placed on probation or to face the risk of dropping out. 395