Students at the Lahore School of Economics started boycotting their university last night to express their frustrations against the policies of their institution. According to the initial reports, students were upset about LSE’s policy for conducting online exams.

Since the pandemic forced the university to shut down in the middle of the semester, the students had to complete the rest of their semester online. And as finals season approaches, the university devised their own method of conducting exams on their own internet portal.

Students of Lahore School of Economics have started an online campaign to have their demands heard against what they’re claiming as oppressive policies of the university

The main concern for the students of Lahore School of Economics is around arbitrary rules created for taking their final online exams for the ongoing semester

The rules for the exams required all students to be online on a Zoom call, with both their laptop’s microphone and camera on the entire time. According to students they were told that if they turned their mic off, their exam could be canceled. And they were also asked not to have any sort of noise in the background as well; anything which could potentially disturb the examination process.

They’ve taken to social media to make their voices heard

According to students, all of the syllabus was to be included in exams and the students had only gotten a two weeks notice about this since they had not expected to have to study what had already been tested in during the midterm exams.

But since then, the students say that the university has revoked this clause. Only lectures received after the midterms would be included in the finals.

But students do not think this is good enough because having exams during a pandemic seems unfair to them. They are complaining that the portal built to conduct the exams is not good enough and has too many bugs. They also argue that not all students have access to laptops or stable internet connections.

A professor of the Lahore School of Economics has now gone viral for allegedly berating a student for not being able to buy a laptop in the middle of the pandemic just for this exam

The issue came to a head when a student allegedly brought his concern in front of an instructor who happens to be the Dean of Business Administration, Dr. Sohail Zafar. A video of the incident in question went viral, in it we see Dr. Zafar berating the student after he has relayed his concerns about using the portal.

Dr. Sohail Zafar uses crass language to tell him that he is not serious about his studies. And then asks him to rent a laptop for his work. To which the student replies that in the current situation of the pandemic he might not be able to do so but the professor completely ignores his concerns.

On the other side, the student in the video made another video stating that he has a friendly relationship with the professor and this is how he talks to them

He asked people not to share the video since it was allegedly edited to make it seem like the professor was berating the student.

But other people were not as forgiving and pointed out that this was no way to talk to a student in the first place

https://twitter.com/tineberry_life/status/1263247826714157056?s=20

While quite a few students, a lot of them alumni are defending Dr. Sohail Zafar and even tweeting under the hashtag #SupportDrSohailZafar.

However, students say that the university has still not addressed the students main concerns. And that they are still concerned about their grades and what will happen if this examination system moves forward.

The Lahore School of Economics has yet to issue a public statement on the entire issue and Dr. Sohail Zafar’s comments. This is a developing story.