Matric students to sit in exams without roll number slips

Students asked to bring in online registration slips and challans, board offices to remain open on Sunday.

RAWALPINDI: The Punjab Education Board on Saturday allowed students to take examinations without providing roll number slips, after a faulty online system set up by the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) failed to issue the slips.

The chairman of the board’s committee, Syed Mumtaz Shah said the students should bring their online registration slips and challan forms to the examination centres so that they may be able to sit for the exam.

Board offices will be remain open on Sunday to facilitate students.

Earlier, students in Rawalpindi had protested the non-issuance of roll number slips.

The roll number slips were to be issued from March 1 from the board’s website.

To avert any chaos, the board started issung hand-written roll number slips at examination centres and the board’s spokesperson, Arsalan Cheema, promised to issue roll numbers to all students by tomorrow.

Meanwhile, in Faisalbad, students, instead of taking their exams, were seen swarming the office of the board to get their roll number slips corrected.

The annual matriculation examinations in eight boards across Punjab started today.

Around 140,000 students sitting for their exams this year in 388 centres across Punjab are facing more than just the non-issuance of their roll number slips. About 35 per cent of the students could also not submit their admission forms online.

Students have also complained of the lack of information on the new format of the examinations.

Four thousand students could not sit for their first exam of the Middle Standard examination in Sialkot district last month because Gujranwala’s BISE failed to issue their roll number slips.

The All Pakistan Private Schools Management Association (APPSMA) has demanded the revival of the old registration system for students, maintaining that the new online system now required by education boards is proving problematic, with most students and schools not having internet access.

The online admission registration system of the Gujranwala BISE last year disintegrated due to technical faults.