LAHORE – Punjab Governor asked Aitchison College a simple question with complicated implications, how, exactly, do you decide who leads students. The question had an answer nobody at the college wanted to hear.
A group of parents, gathered for their children’s Leadership Camp, sat down and wrote back, not to Punjab Governor, but to the principal himself. Their letter carried two lists, a handful of names, and an accusation that has since split the Aitchison community as college’s most coveted titles weren’t earned but they were given without merit.
The controversy at elite educational institutions burst into the open, with parents accusing Aitchison College’s administration of running a nepotism-riddled system for selecting student prefects and recommending pupils for admission to foreign universities.
On August 13, Punjab Governor wrote letter to Principal Dr. Syed Turab Hussain, in which the Governor directed the college to formulate clear, merit-based policies governing the selection of college prefects, head boys, deputy head boys, and other leadership positions in sports and academics. The letter called for defined eligibility criteria, transparent selection procedures, fixed tenures, and codes of conduct, and extended the same demand for fairness to the appointment of housemasters and staff promotions.
That same evening, parents of H2 students attending the college’s Leadership Camp wrote directly to the principal, alleging that recent leadership appointments had been made not on merit but through favouritism.
The parents’ letter was accompanied by two lists. The first names students allegedly appointed as College Prefects despite weak academic records, including, they claim, a student who joined the school only in Grade 7 (E2), a relatively late entry point compared to Aitchison’s typical intake.
The second list is more consequential, it names students the parents allege were recommended by the administration for admission to international universities despite underwhelming Cambridge A-Level Part-I results. The parents claim ten such students, spanning the tenures of both the current and previous principals since 2019, subsequently had their foreign university admissions placed on probation, put on hold, or cancelled outright.
In their most serious claim, the parents allege that several Ivy League universities, including Harvard, have effectively blacklisted Aitchison College over what they characterise as its “nepotistic policies” in student recommendations.
The parents are demanding the removal of students they say do not merit their leadership positions.
Meanwhile, Aitchison Principal Dr. Turab Hussain declined to respond when approached by local publication. In his place, Aitchison College Old Boys’ Association (ACOBA) issued a detailed rebuttal , addressing not only the leadership-selection allegations but also separate concerns raised online regarding the principal’s own appointment, and shared a written response with the Governor’s office.
ACOBA said the prefect selections follow established, robust process, adding that comparable merit-based criteria govern the award of College Colours in sports and Honours in academics and extracurricular activities.
Aitchison’s ‘Merit-Based System’ comes under fresh scrutiny from Punjab Governor
