Karachi board’s codification machine hits snags

Intermediate examination checking reverted back to tried and tested manual methods

KARACHI:

While machines have replaced humans in many walks of life, for Karachi’s Board of Higher Secondary Education, they have not been able to assist in grading intermediate examinations resulting in teachers reverting back to tried and tested methods.

Hundreds of thousands of examination copies for Intermediate Year 2, have been subjected to manual codification as the machine codification plan of the board’s administration has not gone according to plan.

“This failure was bound to happen because the board introduced the Optical Machine Reading (OMR) system in a haste,” remarked Professor Karim Narejo, President of the Sindh Professor and Lecturer Association (SPLA), Karachi. As per sources in the Higher Secondary Education Board, 2 codification machines were purchased at a cost of more than 10 million rupees. After this purchase, Chairman of the Board Professor Saeed Uddin formally announced the project in a press conference and clarified that the codification of the examination copies of 2022 would be done by these machines.

Professor Narejo believes that if such an exorbitant sum was spent on procuring the machines, some money could have been spent on training the people who were supposed to use them. “Students and teachers alike were not trained on the new means of assessment. Resultantly, when the exams were conducted teachers realised that students were making many mistakes in attempting MCQs,” the President of SPLA informed, adding that after the problem was identified, the board suggested that OMR sheets should also be checked manually.

However, the suggestion was dropped altogether and the Board reverted back to manual codification, as Professor Narejo. “With manual checking, the secrecy and transparency of the examinations cannot be maintained. The machines have been bought at a great expense and have no use. However, the examination board continues to press for more funds.” Sources privy to the matter informed that after the failure of the machines, the board administration insisted on manual codification.

A key reason for this being that the administration is paid Rs 2 per copy and a conservative estimate puts the number of intermediate board exam copies at more than 2.2 million for the current year, as per the sources.

The Express Tribune contacted Chairman of Board Professor Saeed Uddin, multiple times regarding the failure of the machines and the allegations regarding the administration benefiting from manual codification but he did not wish to discuss the matter. The Chairman was of the view that the Express Tribune should contact the Controller of Examinations as this matter fell under his domain.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 28^th, 2022.