Not on board: Over half of student body fails matric exam

Parents have protested against marking methods, demanded re-evaluation and revision of syllabus.

GUJRANAWALA/MULTAN:

Following the announcement of matric results in Gujranwala and Multan, several students have protested against marking methods.

In Gujranwala, the Education Board announced the class 9 results on Monday and the result ratio of success remained 27.60 per cent. A total of 205,323 candidates took part in the examinations and 56,669 candidates were declared successful in the exams.

“Overall the result has been less than we expected because more than half of the students have not been able to clear the exams,” said a government school teacher Hadi Abdullah. “The government needs to reevaluate its teaching system and move away from rote learning,” he added.

“The real problem lies with the checking as well. Many students who have an understanding of the material score less because examiners expect and want answers to be exactly the same as they are in the text books. They do not appreciate initiative or analysis,” said a government school teacher Mehreen Abdullah. “Many students who I thought would do very well in the exams have ended up doing poorly,” she added.

In Multan, the results of 11,000 students have been delayed. “It is like we just slipped off the radar. They have misplaced our records and we have had to show them our roll slips to even prove we took the exams,” a student Mubashar Alvi said.

“The grading has been terrible and many students who I thought would get top positions have failed,” he added. Parents of thousands of children protested against the education board and said that the provincial government needed to revise the matric syllabus and improve the quality of teaching in public schools. “I have been paying hefty tuition fees because my boys do not get enough help in class. Even so, the marking has been so strict that they have barely passed,” said Salman Mesud, a Chak 47-GB resident.

Education board officials said that the delay was a result of a malfunctioning online system.

“The website has experienced several problems but we are working these out and the final results will be issued within a week,” said an Education Board official.

Over 4,000 students said that their result had been delayed and that this would compromise their admission to the next class. Board officials said they would continue to rectify mistakes and issue new report cards where warranted.

“We are doing everything we can to make sure that these children get their results in time and legitimate requests for rechecking are being forwarded as well,” said Education Board official Hassan Armughan.

Parents and students in several districts have said that they are compiling a petition for an evaluation of teaching staff at district schools.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 24^th, 2011.