All the Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Educations (BISEs) in Punjab are likely to give the English examination for matriculate students again on March 20 for the students who could not sit for the scheduled exam on March 7. The Lahore High Court will hear a writ petition today against an online system of registration and issuance of roll number slips for matriculation students.
The annual matriculation exam began on March 5 under all eight BISEs. There was an outcry against missing roll number slips. Thousands of students, it was reported, could not sit the exam as they were unable to download their roll number slips or trace their examination centres.
The Punjab government, on the other hand, ran advertisements in several newspapers calling the online registration a big convenience. It claimed that the new system would help eliminate the booti mafia. Before the new online registration system, according to the boards, students had to manually register at the concerned boards, seek admission for their annual examinations and later either get their roll number slips mailed to them or obtain them from their schools.
The heads of the educational institutes would send admission forms along with seating plans to the relevant boards.
This system was conducive to cheating.
The new system, introduced this year, allows for students to apply for registration and admission forms online. Also roll number slips are issued online. Private candidates are allotted examination centres they ask for while regular students are sent to one of three centres closest to where they are located.
Some students, however, got roll number slips with the wrong photograph.
A government officer said that some students had not bothered to visit the examination centers or tehsil level sub offices for the required information. He said that the issue had been settled and almost all the students had gotten their roll numbers slips.
According to a Lahore examination centre superintendent, there were instructions that if a candidate approaches an examination centre without a roll numbers slip, he should be allowed to sit in the examination after ensuring that he was at the right centre.
Lahore BISE controller examination Manzoorul Hassan Niazi told The Express Tribune that that online system was excellent but lack of awareness on part of the students had created several problems. He said the rest of the papers would go smoothly.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 9th, 2011.
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