Students have been protesting across the country as part of their effort to convince the government to hold online exams this year and save their academic year. However, the education minister said in a tweet on Monday that it was the universities that would make a decision on whether to conduct the final exams online or not.

Responding to the students’ protest, Shafqat Mahmood in a series of messages on the micro-blogging website, Twitter, said the education ministry has asked the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to contact the vice-chancellors of public sector universities to assess the situation and see if online exams were possible this year.

He said that the universities should also assess whether they have the technical ability to conduct exams for all students.