ISLAMABAD: If you need a genuine degree in any discipline, get enrolled with Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) and achieve the goal while spending a little amount of money, because the university has no check and balance on assignments that are being sold in the markets openly, Daily Times has learnt. As per the investigation conducted by Daily Times, AIOU’s assignments are being sold in markets across the twin cities, while the university administration has no mechanism to check whether the assignments submitted by students are actually written by them. The information suggests that the “business” is continuing at almost all bookshops and other dealers situated in the main markets of the twin cities, particularly in Aabpara Market, Sitara Market, Karachi Company, G10, G11, F10, F11, I9, I10 and other markets in the rural areas of the capital. Vendors can be seen demanding different prices for the readymade assignments. They are offering assignments in both printed and handwritten forms. Most of them are selling the printed assignments of all subjects of matriculation for Rs 50 to Rs 70 each, while the price for handwritten assignments of this class is ranged between Rs 250 and Rs 300 each. Similarly, the price of an assignment of any subject of FA is around Rs 70 to Rs 80 for printed and Rs 270 to Rs 300 for handwritten copy. The story doesn’t end here, as they also offer readymade assignments of senior classes, like BA, masters and MPhil. According to the university examination criteria, the passing student of any class must have secured 40 percent or above marks in each subject, while the same ratio is set for the assignment of that particular subject. Usually, the total marks for each subject’s assignment are 30. Some subjects’ passing criteria is 50 percent. In this way, the ratio of written examination and assignment is 70 marks and 30 marks, respectively. Without obtaining minimum passing marks/percentage in the assignment, the student is considered failed, even if they pass the written or theoretical examination. The university very proudly wrote on its website that assignments were an integral part of education, while without passing them the student would not be considered passed. It added that this approach would also assess the students’ performance. “These are also part of contentious assessment,” it claimed. However, on the other hand, the university has no mechanism to checkout the originality of the assignments. The AIOU was established in 1974 though an act of parliament. It is the only educational institution in the county that offers non-formal and distance education to the masses. It is operating a semester system, offered twice a year – spring and autumn. According to the university’s official website, it offers more than 2,000 courses from matriculation to PhD, including some professional degrees and diplomas/certificates. It has an estimated annual enrolment of 1.2 million students. An official of the university, who wished not to be named, said that hundreds of thousands of the students were being awarded degrees each year sans check on the quality of education at AIOU. He revealed that other than a poor mechanism for checking assignments, the AIOU also lacked trained and professional teams to monitor the exams held after every six months. When contacted, Vice Chancellor (VC) Dr Shahid Siddiqui said that whenever such malpractices (open sale of assignments) are brought to the notice of the university, the management reports the same to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). He admitted that the university could not do anything about such practices, since they were taking place in the open market and not on the premises of campuses affiliated with the university. However, he said that in order to discourage cheating, the management was restructuring the examination policy as a whole, under which an online assignment system would be introduced. “In this way, there would be zero chance of cheating in assignments and other examination activities.”