Sindh mulls promotions on average scores

Considers marking on basis of previous results if exams cancel

KARACHI: Sindh's top education authorities have formulated a proposal regarding the postponement or cancellation of matriculation and intermediate annual examinations in the province in the wake of the situation triggered by Covid-19 pandemic.

A meeting of the Inter Board Committee of Chairman (IBCC) - a forum of seven education boards of Sindh - was held at the Board of Technical Education Karachi on Monday.

It was decided during the meeting that in case of postponement, the duration of the examinations will be limited to an hour or an hour and a half and examination papers would only comprise multiple choice questions (MCQs).

Sindh prepares proposal to award ‘average marking’ to students if matric, inter exams cancelled

In case of cancellation, students of the class 10 and class 12 would be given average marks on the basis of their results in class 9 and class 11 and 5 per cent grace marks.

The proposal has been sent to the Sindh Ministry of Education and a decision regarding the matter is expected next month, likely to be made during a meeting of the steering committee of the education department.

A chairperson of one of the education boards, who attended the meeting, on condition of anonymity, told The Express Tribune that the meeting considered the options of holding annual matriculation and intermediate examinations and direct grading and release of results in case of cancellation of examinations.

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He said that all participants agreed that it was impossible to conduct examinations while observing social distancing guidelines as 500 to 1,000 students sit a paper at a single examination centre at a time.

However, he said, it was decided that in a scenario where it became imperative to conduct matric and intermediate examinations, each paper would be an hour or an hour and a half long while the exams would only consist of MCQs.

He said that all participants of the meeting acceded to the suggestion, proposed by the chairperson of the Sukkur board, except for the chairperson of board of Larkana. 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 29^th, 2020.