Tampering charges: BIEK withholds results of 95 students

Position holders say they never attended classes

KARACHI: The results of 95 students who appeared for their Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK) pre-medical Intermediate examinations have been withheld as their answer books are under scrutiny at the anti-corruption department,

This was revealed by BIEK examinations controller Imran Chishti, who was accompanied by  BIEK chairperson Akhtar Ghori, while announcing the results of the pre-medical, medical technology and home economics batch (second year) on Monday.

The results were announced a month after the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) raided the board in August over complaints of tampering of results and alteration of numbers by some board officials.



Speaking about the students whose results were withheld, Chishti said that the matter is with ACE and the department has the original answer sheet of those students. "We have provided them with the addresses, contact details and the names of external teachers at the centres," he said, adding their results will be announced once ACE completes its investigation.

The results of students who sat for the exams in May were announced. The pass percentage of the examinations stands at 52.78%, which was 49.92% in 2015.

Pre-medical result 

About 21,106 students appeared for their pre-medical exam, of which only 11,139 managed to pass. A total of 16,940 females appeared for the pre-medical exams, of which only 9,363 cleared all the seven subjects with an overall percentage of 55.2%. Of the 4,166 males, only 1,776 managed to pass.

The statistics for the pre-medical examination also revealed that 1,349 candidates managed to secure A-1 grades, while 14.64% of the students scored between 70 to 79%.

Asia Khalid from BAMM PECHS Government College for women secured the first position in the pre-medical group. "I only use to go to college for practical classes," she said.

Along with Khalid, Mawra Tanveer and Hiba Khalid both secured the second position in the examination and are from the same college. They also shared similar views that they have to take tuitions and coaching classes while as the education in the best college of the city is not up to the mark.

Meanwhile, the third position holder from St Lawrence Government Girls Degree College, Rimsha Imran, said attendance is compulsory for submission of examination form in her college.

Commenting on the attendance issue, Chishti reasoned that the board has written letters many times and it is regional officers and colleges' director-general's responsibility to form a committee and make attendance in colleges compulsory.

Other results

A total of 328 students appeared for the home economics examinations only from Rana Liaquat Ali Khan Government College of Home Economics.

The pass percentage for the students was 46.34% while 152 students managed to clear all the papers.

For medical technology, only three students appeared and all of them cleared their examination with two students securing grade B and one grade C.

Cash prizes

The position holders from pre-medical and home economics were given cash prizes and gifts from the BIEK chairperson as well. The cash prize has been increased to Rs100,000 for the first, Rs50,000 for second and Rs30,000 for third position holders, which was Rs50,000, Rs30,000 and Rs20,000 respectively until last year.

All the six position holders were also given gold medals for the first time in the BIEK. The gold medals were awarded by Sindh governor Dr Ishratul Ebad by the name of Dr Ishratul Ebad medal.

Bright future

Praising the students, Chishti added that the results are getting better each year. This year 83% students from Intermediate board managed to clear the NED University's entry test, he said.

When BIEK was formed, the number of students was just 25,000 which has now increased by 800% up to 227,000, he said lamenting that there has been no increase in the infrastructure of the board.

The chief guest at the ceremony, NAB, Sindh director-general Colonel (retd) Siraj Naeem questioned the attendants the reason why students of Karachi are unable to score in services tests. "Youth in Karachi has the talent and they are more talented than students in Punjab," he said, adding that there is a dire need to understand and investigate the root cause of this problem.

He also urged the board authorities to make the education system better. "Our curriculum and standards should be elevated up to the level of Cambridge education so that students who appear for their Intermediate examinations have the same opportunities upon graduation," he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 6^th, 2016.