New primary exam system introduced in Central district

A centralised examination system has been introduced in hundreds of state-run primary schools in a Karachi district without the Sindh government approval as thousands of students of Grade IV & V have sat their annual exams in the board-style system. Surprisingly, the District Education Officer (DEO) of Central District has arbitrarily taken the decision and introduced this system even though it is not in place at the primary level anywhere in Sindh.

It has been done in such a clumsy manner that on Saturday the Urdu paper was suddenly withdrawn without any prior notice for Grade IV & V exams in the entire district. The students had already attempted their Urdu papers, but on Saturday as soon as they were done with their last paper, they were told to stay back in their classrooms because they would have to also retake their Urdu paper due to some unexplained reasons. The decision was no unexpected that the managements of some schools could not even arrange print-outs of the Urdu paper and instead wrote the questions on the blackboard.

Under the centralised system, question papers are prepared and sent to the schools by the DEO and answer-sheets of students are sent back to the DEO by the schools or to an assessment centre for evaluation. On the contrary, state-run primary schools in other six districts of Karachi conduct their own exams, including preparation of papers and assessment of answer-sheets. As per the centralized system, teachers were barred from staying in their own schools as teachers from other schools would conduct the exams. However, when the DEO got to know that some teachers were present in their own schools at the time of Urdu paper, she ordered a re-take of the paper. The decision was abrupt and unexpected for both the teachers as well as students, but they had no option except compliance. Despite repeated attempts, DEO Tahseen Fatima did not share her version with The Express Tribune.

It is said that Fatima is a close relative of a senior officer in the Sindh government. She has been holding her current post for about seven years. She is so powerful that even School Education Secretary Ghulam Akbar Leghari cannot do anything against her. When contacted, Deputy District Officer Central Arshad Ali told The Express Tribune that the Urdu paper was retaken following complaints of "violation of some rules during the conduct of the paper for the first time." He refused to answer when asked if the centralized examination system was in practice in other districts of Karachi, saying that "you better go and check with officers in other districts as I am responsible for my district". Again he evaded a direct answer when asked if the decision to introduce the new system has been approved by the department. "Only madam can answer your question, please go and ask her," he said while referring to the DEO.