The novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic reached Pakistan in February 2020, but it seems that the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Hyderabad (BISEH) had predicted it over a year ago.
The BISEH, which is mandated to revise fee for its certificates by 20% after every three years, notified only 10% rise in the fee in February, 2019, and made it effective from September, 2019.
“… due to the [then] prevailing worst situation of Covid-19 the board [had] only increases fees up to 10% which is minimum,” reads a letter issued by the BISE’s controller of examination Masroor Ahmed Zai to justify the latest 50% hike in the fee, whose implementation began from November 22.
When contacted about this factual inconsistency in statements of both the controller as well as BISEH Chairman Prof Barkat Ali Haideri, Zai excused from giving his version over phone telling that he was in a mosque. “We notify the fee rise several months in advance. The coronavirus was already in the news and we had anticipated the developing situation,” he said while talking to The Express Tribune.
The virus began spreading in Pakistan in February, 2020, and the lockdown was imposed a month later. The postponement of the board conducted annual exams was announced months later.
Apparent miscalculation
Interestingly, in a yet another contradiction, the board officials have in their statements claimed of bringing about only a 20% enhancement keeping in view the financial straits which have gripped the majority population. In essence, when calculated, they have jacked up the fee by 50%.
The move elicited a backlash from the society as well as some political parties. The private schools association announced a sit-in protest against the BISE for November 30 and at a press conference on November 24 Jamaat-e-Islami asked the provincial government to intervene and ensure that the board withdrew from its decision.
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As per the notification, whose implementation began from November 22, the fee of duplicate Matric and Intermediate certificate has been increased from Rs2,200 to Rs3,300 and that of the migration certificate from Rs1,600 to Rs2,400. The students will have to pay Rs2,200 for corrected certificate, Rs1,800 for verification fee, Rs1,000 for correction fee, Rs600 for marks certificate and Rs450 for pass certificate. The BISEH’s jurisdiction spreads to nine districts of Hyderabad division.
Official version
In a press statement on Thursday the board's chairman and controller fought their case for the enhancement. "The board has to review its entire fee structure after every three years for up to 20%," the officials said. If this is the case, the board was supposed to increase the fee from September, 2022, instead of November, 2021, because the intervening time between the two hikes has been only 26 months.
They maintained that the annual exams of secondary school certificate and higher secondary certificate were not conducted in 2020 due to the COVID-19 which deprived the board of revenue generation. The two officials also cited the rise in costs of the paper by 30% to 40%, TA and DA provided to the assessors. "... the recent increases in the board fees are at a low level among all the board in Sindh which is on record," they further claimed.
Private schools oppose board fee hike
Mohabbat Ali Qureshi, Hassan Murtaza and other office bearers of Pakistan Private Schools Association, Hyderabad division, in their statement said the hike has been announced at a time when parents of the students are even finding it hard to pay the school fee. They said the board saved tens of millions of rupees in 2020 because the annual exams were not conducted.
"We [private schools] have kept the fee structure same but the government boards have begun to charge more," they deplored, saying that the board's fee have been jacked up by 50%. The board's officials could not be contacted for their version.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 27th, 2021.
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