Annual examinations: ‘Favourite’ schools become exam centres

Source says staff takes Rs1,000 to Rs4,000 per exam from students to guarantee that they earn an A- or A1 grade.

KARACHI:

The Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) has selected exam venues that are apparently ‘favourites’ as part of a deal with a few private schools in the city.

The BSEK class nine and Matric examinations are scheduled to start April 7. Officials privy to the developments told The Express Tribune that more than 150 centres were decided upon — mostly private schools, which do not meet the criteria set by the rules.

“Only those government and private schools that are equipped with basic facilities such as toilets, proper ventilation and drinking water can be used as examination centres,” said a source, adding that board officers usually made a lot of money by accepting bribes and using ill-equipped schools as centres where the school administration could help students cheat.

The source claimed that at these centres, the staff takes Rs1,000 to Rs4,000 per exam from students to guarantee that they earn an A- or A1 grade. “Many fake students also appear for exams held at these centres instead of the actual candidates,” said the source. “This has been happening for years. These practices have made certain schools very popular.”

According to sources, many small schools built on 200 to 300 square yards in Baldia, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Malir and North Nazimabad have been declared as centres — ignoring larger schools built on 500 to 1,000 square yards in the same locality.

A private school built on 300 square yards and without proper toilets was declared as an exam centre in Baldia. He added that there was a school built on 600 square yards, which had better facilities and was better suited to be an exam centre.

“Last year, there were around 200 exam centres in the city,” said an official source. “This year, the board has doubled them to 400.” He added that the rates to fix and select exam centres ranges from Rs80,000 to Rs100,000.

This time, board officials said that centres were fixed without consulting six members of the committee that usually does this. They added that a few members were also employees of the board and had expressed their concerns.

Syed Khalid Shah, the chairperson of the All Private Schools Management Association confirmed these reports. “This has promoted the culture of cheating in Karachi,” he said. “Officials from the board office are involved in it as well.” He added that a majority of the exam centres were violating ethics.

“We have seen students travelling many kilometres and changing two to three buses in order to appear for their exams,” he said. “School centres should be near the students. Unfortunately, it does not happen this way.”

BSEK controller Noman Ahsan told The Express Tribune that the decision to fix schools as centres was made on merit. “Around 355,000 students of class nine and Matric will appear in the exams this time,” he said. “We had to increase the number of centres because of this.” He added that reports of cheating during the exams were false and, to ensure safety around the centres, law enforcers will be deployed around the area.

According to Ahsan, all decisions had been made in consultation with the centre fixation committee. He added that they had issued all admit cards a few days ago.

Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah chaired a meeting at his residence on the secondary and higher secondary examinations. He asked the chairpersons of the education boards of the province to ensure that proper arrangements had been made. The exams are scheduled to start on April 7 and end on April 28.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 4^th, 2015.