Teachers fail e-marking system

Checkers cite vague payment terms, time-consuming procedures

KARACHI:

The e-marking system introduced at the intermediate level in Karachi has effectively collapsed, leading to an unprecedented delay of over six months in the announcement of results for thousands of students. Due to the failure of electronic assessment, the Intermediate Part-I (Class XI) results for Computer Science students - specifically in the subject of Mathematics - have yet to be declared, leaving more than 19,000 students in academic limbo.

According to official correspondence issued by Regional Director Colleges Karachi Professor Qazi Arshad and the Controller of Examinations of the Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK), a large number of government college teachers assigned as examiners have failed to participate in the e-marking process. As a result, nearly 140,000 examination questions remain unchecked, bringing the entire result compilation process to a standstill.

Sources within the Regional Directorate revealed that a total of approximately 180,000 questions from the Mathematics Paper-I of the HSC Part-I (Science General Group) were required to be assessed electronically. However, so far, only around 40,000 questions have been marked, while the remaining 140,000 are still pending. These figures were officially communicated to the Regional Directorate Colleges Karachi by the Intermediate Board.

The situation has arisen primarily due to the reluctance of government college teachers to engage with the e-marking system. At least 44 teachers, assigned as examiners, have reportedly not marked even a single question to date.

Teachers argue that the board has failed to clearly communicate the remuneration structure for e-marking, including how much will be paid per question. They also contend that e-marking is more time-consuming than traditional manual checking.

According to examiners, a packet of 22 answer scripts can typically be manually assessed within an hour, whereas the digital assessment process requires significantly more time due to technical procedures and unfamiliarity with the system. This uncertainty and perceived inefficiency have discouraged teachers from actively participating in the e-marking process.

The issue has gained further significance in light of an announcement made on December 4 by Sindh's provincial minister for universities and boards, who declared that from the annual examinations of 2026 onwards, e-marking would be implemented for all science subjects across the province. However, given the current situation in Karachi, education officials fear that e-marking may once again fail next year or, if implemented, may lead to prolonged delays in result announcements.

In his letter to college principals, Director Arshad expressed deep regret over the "non-cooperation and inactivity" of examiners in the assessment and e-marking of the Mathematics Paper-I for the HSC Annual Examinations 2025 (Science General Group). He described the situation as extremely unfortunate and detrimental to the academic future of students.

Similarly, the Controller of Examinations of the Karachi Board, in an official letter, stated with "profound regret" that professors and examiners from government colleges in the Karachi region had shown a serious lack of cooperation in the e-marking process. Despite repeated reminders and attempts to contact the concerned teachers, responses were either minimal or completely absent.

The Controller noted that many examiners were either unavailable for paper checking or were not taking their responsibilities seriously.