Daily Times

LAHORE: The Inter-Board Committee of Chairman (IBCC) has 17 dictums to serve the people of Pakistan, including issuance of equivalence of foreign qualifications in shape of certificates and attestation of certificates and diplomas at SSC and HSSC levels.

IBCC was established by the federal government to facilitate and help those students who qualify O/A-level exams of Cambridge and wanted to apply in local colleges for intermediate and university admissions and required BISE equivalence. However, this facilitation has become a curse for the students and their parents.

For the purpose of collection of equivalence certificate, IBCC has hired a grave-like room on the 2nd floor of BISE premises where visitors find themselves helpless, as no facility of drinking water, sitting arrangement, token system for receiving/submission of forms, room ventilation system and appropriate space for students has been installed. Secondly, the compressed room is wide open for thieves, making it easy for pickpocketeers. It was learnt that as many as 12 cell phones and five wallets were stolen from people standing in queues on September 28, as it wasn’t possible to take care of all pockets while standing in long, packed queues.

Furthermore, IBCC has adopted inhuman time-consuming criteria for attestations; parents and students have to rush to the IBCC building as early as 9am. The criteria equally applied to all persons whether they were from Lahore, western and southern Punjab, or as far as DG Khan.

Moreover, deadline for challan forms issuance is 12pm, and people are bound to get challan forms only from one IBCC window, as relevant bank’s challan forms are not acceptable. In order to get challan forms and attestation, one has to stand between the people fearful of thieves. IBCC has washed their hands saying that department is not responsible for these thefts.

It is worth mentioning that after getting challan form, one has to go on foot to Habib Bank Limited (HBL), situated at Fatima Jinnah Road, for fee submission. Once in the bank, one has to again bear another long queue for fee submission. After the fee is submitted, one has to return all the way back to the IBCC building and stand in the queue for hours for submission of documents.

The story does not end here, as after issuance of equivalence certificate, IBCC asks you to apply for attestation of their self-issued certificate. One has to undergo the same labourious procedure for challan form and submission of original certificate along with three copy of their issued certificate.

When asked, an elderly woman who was standing in the queue uttered some harsh words for the IBCC high ups, pleading that there should be a token system to define everyone’s turn, adding that sitting arrangement should be arranged within the IBCC premises. She urged the management to install CCTV cameras to save people from thefts. Instead of making life easy for their clients, the IBCC is bent upon to make life miserable for the needy, she deplored.