Delayed results leave students clueless about future

Without written order from Sindh govt, education boards have not begun preparing inter, matric results

Owing to a lack of seriousness and negligence on part of the provincial government, the process of preparing the results of matriculation and intermediate examinations in Sindh has been hit with undue delays.

The postponement has put the future of hundreds of thousands of students at stake, out of which about 200,000 belong to Karachi. According to sources, the process of preparing results has not begun because none of the seven education boards in the province has received a written order from the Sindh government or the controlling authority from the Chief Minister House.

The chairperson of one of the boards, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told The Express Tribune that meetings were held with relevant secretaries in May and early June where the boards had been assured of the timely issuance of the notification so that the process of preparing results would start immediately.

“So far, we have only received verbal confirmation from the authorities. The boards cannot start the process without receiving a written order as per the law,” he said.

It should be noted that per the decision of the school education department’s Steering Committee, matriculation results are to be released to all education boards of Karachi and Sindh by July 15, while due to the high enrollment, the matriculation board of Karachi will release the results of Class 10 by July 31.

Similarly, the results of intermediate pre-medical and pre-engineering groups are to be released in August. In light of the steering committee’s decision, except for Karachi, all other boards of education in Sindh have 15 days to release the matriculation results.

“It’s impossible to prepare the matriculation results within 15 days. The preparation of new results based on previous ones is a laborious and time-consuming task. However, the issue does not seem to be on the government’s priority list,” the board director said.

Per sources, legislation is to be enacted on the recommendation of the school education department for the preparation of results without examinations. This is because, at present, there is no scope for promotion of students without appearing in exams in the existing law of the Sindh Board of Education. Therefore, the required amendment in the Board of Education Act must be made or the promotion policy should be implemented at the matriculation and intermediate level through an ordinance.

It is pertinent to mention that in May this year, the Sindh government and the education department had taken a decision in the said regard and a committee was formed, comprising the chairpersons and secretaries of school, colleges, universities and boards, which laid the procedure for the promotion policy. The approval of the promotion policy was taken at the steering committee’s meeting on June 2.

However, even after a month, the government could not amend the law to implement the promotion policy and no ordinance could be issued either. Due to this, hundreds of thousands of students in Sindh are left in a state of confusion and uncertainty.

Meanwhile, sources associated with the school education department said that a few days ago, a draft law on the promotion policy has been handed over to the provincial law department for “voting.” Sources in the law department also confirmed the receipt of the draft.

However, the law department has to give its opinion on how much more time is needed and whether it will be done through the legislative assembly or based on an ordinance.

Sources said that the entire process could still take more than two weeks, raising fears of further delays in the release of results.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 4^th, 2020.