Re-examining the fifth grade
Residents in Gujranwala and Pasrur said that initially there were lots of problems with students not being issued roll number slips to sit the exams but those that did manage were flummoxed after they received the wrong examination papers.
Parents and students complained that many English medium students were provided with Urdu medium papers and vice versa. “Every thing was ill-organised. Many students who registered to take the exam in English were given Urdu papers and vice versa,” said a parent Haroon. “They also refused to acknowledge their mistake when the children protested,” said parent Nadeem. Nadeem added that several students had begun crying in the exam room and had tried to contact their parents to be permitted to boycott the exam.
Mustafa, another parent, said, “We need a guarantee that our children will not suffer for the Education Department’s mistakes. They were given the wrong exams.”
Another common complaint heard during the first week of the exams that started at February 1 was that the exams started late. “Exams at all centres started late. In the case of my daughter the exam started three and a half hours late,” complained the mother of Aaliya, a student.
Several complaints were also received regarding drinking water and washrooms. “There were no facilities for the students who were sitting the exams. One of the exam centres in Qilla Deedar Singh didn’t even have desks and the children sat outside on the floor,” said school teacher Haji Suleman Daud.
Parents of several students have accused the invigilators and private school owners of helping students from their own institutions cheat in the exam.
“The students from the institution in which the exam was taking place were openly allowed to compare notes while government school students were harassed by the invigilators,” said a parent, Imrana.
When contacted, EDO (Education) Muhammad Riaz Sohi said that teams had been formed consisting of 90 members including NGO workers who were helping invigilate the exams. The EDO along with three teams visited Pasrur and its nearby areas to pacify the enraged parents of hundreds of students. “We will address all these complaints and the students administered the wrong paper will be allowed to take it again,” Sohi said, adding that a special team will be formed to monitor the exams.
Published in The Express Tribune, 6th, 2011.
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