Sindh's indecisiveness over matric, inter exams puts students future in jeopardy

Recommendations to be shared with Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood on Thursday for the final decision

KARACHI: A meeting of a committee, set up by the Sindh education department to take a call on whether to conduct or cancel board exams, ended without a final decision on Wednesday as the confusion of thousands of students and their parents in the province continues.

The committee could only come up with "recommendations" and now the issue would be put in front of Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood on Thursday.

Earlier, the steering committee meeting chaired by Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani regarding the matriculation and intermediate examinations in the province also ended inconclusively.



Students and their parents were under stress due to the delay in the decision by the government.

The meeting of the committee of chairmen of education boards was chaired by Education Secretary Khalid Haider Shah while Secretary College Education Baqir Abbas and Secretary Universities and Boards Riazuddin were present.

Matriculation Board Karachi, Intermediate Board Karachi and Board of Matriculation and Intermediate Education Hyderabad chairmen were also present during the meeting.

According to sources, none of the secretaries, including Secretary Schools Khalid Haider Shah, gave any opinion on the matter of conducting examinations in Sindh.

A chairman, who was present at the meeting, said that suggestions were given on how to conduct examinations under current circumstances.

He said that in case the examinations are conducted, multiple choice questions (MCQs) can be given to the students.

In case of cancellation, he said, the students of 10th class will be graded on the basis of 9th and 12th class students on the basis of 11th.



An official who was present at the meeting told The Express Tribune that the education minister was talking about not cancelling the examinations in Sindh and was giving excuses that the board's law would have to be amended through an ordinance.

But on the other hand, he added, in case of cancellation of examinations, direct grading recommendations were also being considered in the meeting.

This suggests that neither the department of schools and college education in Sindh nor the minister of education himself has a clear idea what to do next, the source further added.