K-P may hold matric, inter exams from June 15

Preparations made for holding examinations

PESHAWAR: The provincial education department may hold intermediate and matriculation examinations after all as the federal government mulls its decision to cancel the exams.

A member of the inter-provincial boards’ chairpersons committee told The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity that the committee is likely to meet on Monday (today) with the Federal Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mahmood in the chair.

The committee member said that chairpersons of all educational boards believe that exams should be conducted as they do not see any serious hurdles in holding them.

All preparations for holding the examinations have been made and, more importantly, the exams can be conducted while ensuring Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19).

The examination, he said, is likely to be held from June 15 to July 15.

The federal education minister had faced severe backlash from all quarters of society for cancelling the board exams without taking the chairpersons of the educational boards into confidence.

To address the issue, a meeting of the inter-provincial boards’ chairpersons committee has been called which will contemplate upon a strategy for organising the exams.

Officials added that it is possible that Mahmood may withdraw his decision as he had previously clarified in a statement that education was a provincial subject and that exams could be organised.

The official further said that an announcement for holding matriculation and intermediate exams is likely to be made in the meeting.

The Covid-19 pandemic had forced the federal and provincial governments to cancel the matriculation and intermediate exams and students were to be promoted based on past results. However, students and parents had slammed the decision as one taken in haste.

Following the federal education minister’s announcement, the provincial education department announced the promotion of over 1.425 million students of matriculation and intermediate to the next grades.

The administrations of the eight examination boards in the province were perplexed as to what to do with the students who have either failed in one or two subjects or have cancelled their examination papers to get more marks in the next exams.

K-P Boards’ Committee Chairperson Sharif Gul had informed The Express Tribune said that over 0.3 million students who have either failed in one or two subjects or have cancelled their papers after they could not get high marks.

Gul who also holds the post of Bannu Education Board chairperson had further said that all the educational boards had collected Rs1.7 billion from students under the head of examination expenses but so far they had not spent the money as exams were cancelled. They were also confused as what to do with the money, whether it would refunded to students or not, he added.