A large number of students from across the country reached outside the Higher Education Commission (HEC) head office in Islamabad to press for their demands for cancelling the physical exams and asked Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood to resign from his office, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The ICT administration has also deployed contingents of police at the protest venue. Police personnel reached the spot along with armoured personnel carriers.

The students chanted slogans against Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood and the government for conducting physical or online examinations and demanded cancellation of the examinations.

The protesting students said that the government taught them via online classes so they were not prepared enough for the exams. The protesters demanded Shafqat Mehmood's resignation over the conduction of examinations. The students announced a sit-in protest until their demand would not be met.

A similar protest has also been going on in Rahim Yar Khan where students demand online examination or cancellation of the exam instead of physical exams. 

Reporter Saba Bajeer