BIEK Results 2024: Chaos, disappointments and broken dreams

Disheartened students turn to scrutiny as Sindh Education Board delivers low scores and poor pass rates yet again.

Listen to article

The Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK) officially announced the HSC Part 1 results for 2024 across all academic groups on December 24, 2024.

The results include comprehensive details for the Science Pre-Medical, Pre-Engineering, Science General, Humanities Private, Commerce Private, and Home Economics groups, and like every year, there is a fiasco surrounding the results, highlighting the chaos of how students who scored excellent marks in Matriculation have performed poorly in their first year.

In a statement, BIEK's controller of examinations highlighted the performance of each group, noting the challenges faced by first-year students in passing the exams.

In the Pre-Medical group, 31,267 students were registered, with 30,528 appearing for the exams. Of these, 10,914 students passed all six papers, while the rest achieved partial success.

In the Pre-Engineering group, 23,391 students registered, and 22,973 appeared for the exams. Among them, 6,674 passed all six papers, while many others achieved partial success in some subjects.

For the General Science group, 17,690 students registered, and 17,375 appeared. Out of these, 6,282 cleared all six papers, showcasing a commendable performance.

In the Arts (Private) group, 2,268 candidates registered, with 2,080 taking the exams. Only 552 managed to pass all six papers.

The Commerce (Private) group saw 1,651 registrations and 1,570 students appearing. A total of 490 candidates cleared all seven papers, with the rest passing a limited number of subjects.

In the Home Economics group, 194 students registered, and 190 appeared. Of these, 75 passed all seven papers.

Officials noted that while many students succeeded in clearing all their exams, a considerable number showed partial progress by passing fewer papers.

Plight of students

Students have been complaining about the results ever since they were announced, a recurring issue every year as mentioned earlier. Despite this repeated history for Sindh Board students, it is strange that no solution has been found.

Typically, results are released, followed by a scrutiny procedure, which Zoya*, a student at a government college in Karachi, described as "unfruitful" in her own words.

“This is so unfair. Students work so hard all year, ensuring they memorize every detail of the syllabus, only to face this mental agony once the results are announced. Our elderly parents are forced to roam around the board offices, pleading with officials to recheck our papers,” she said, her voice filled with anger as she fought back tears.

Zoya, a pre-med student, scored 85% in her Matriculation exams, but her percentage dropped to 64% in her first year of intermediate. This came as a shock to her, as she struggled to understand how a student who performed so well in Matriculation could score so low in intermediate.

Similarly, Hussaina, another pre-med student from a government college, who scored an impressive 79.6% with a distinction in Chemistry from the Aga Khan University Examination Board (AKUEB), saw her percentage drop to 43% in her first year.

“I have scored low marks in chemistry and physics. I had distinction in chemistry in my matric but shockingly I haven't even passed in chemistry this year. My overall grade in matric was A but in my first year I have barely gotten any A's,” she told Tribune.

Hussaina hasn’t opted for scrutiny yet.

Students from pre-engineering groups don’t face a very different fate. Passing by the Practical Centre, I came across a group of disheartened students standing outside. I approached one boy who looked particularly gloomy.

“I scored 90% in Matric. My coaching center, which was just a small setup in my neighborhood in Federal B Area, Block 12, even had my face printed on their fliers. I studied day and night for my first-year exams, only to end up with 68% and a D in Physics, which, by the way, is one of my strongest subjects,” said Hassan* on the condition of anonymity.

His friend Fahad*, who scored 84% in Matriculation, failed Mathematics despite consistently scoring straight A’s in all his coaching exams throughout the year.

“He’s the one who taught us the concepts. I can’t wrap my head around the fact that he failed the exam,” said Ayub*, a friend of Fahad.

Given that these students are aiming for competitive engineering and medical college exams, it is unfortunate that they must endure such mental agony at a young age, leaving a lifelong impact on their mental and, in some cases, physical health.

Authorities action so far

The Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK) has introduced a 50% discount on the scrutiny fee for students wishing to review their exam papers, as reported by Express News on Monday. Previously set at Rs1,000 per paper, the reduced fee now applies exclusively to the Intermediate Part-I Annual Examinations 2024 for Science Pre-Medical, Pre-Engineering, General Science, Home Economics, Private Commerce, and Private Arts groups.

Students can submit scrutiny forms until February 3, which can be downloaded along with the fee voucher from the Board’s official website. To streamline the process, the BIEK chairman has directed the setup of special counters at the Board's Facilitation Centre for submitting forms and fees.

In addition, in response to concerns raised by students regarding the 2024 Intermediate Part-I exam results, the Chairman of the Karachi Board of Intermediate Education, Syed Sharf Ali Shah, has announced the formation of an inquiry committee to address the grievances.

Names have been changed to protect the identity of the students.