Private schools' associations call to postpone matric exams amid admit card chaos in Sindh

BSEK chairman says exams will not be postponed as situation will be under control by this evening

KARACHI:

The Grand Alliance of Private Schools Associations in Sindh on Sunday called to postpone the matriculation exams by a week due to incomplete and flawed arrangements, with thousands of students still without their admit cards.

Examinations for the 10th grade are scheduled to begin on Tuesday, and for the 9th grade on Wednesday. However, more than 350,000 students remain without their admit cards even a day before the exams. Many students also do not know the location of their assigned exam centres.

The Secondary Education Board had claimed that admit cards would be uploaded to the portal on Saturday evening. However, both private and government school administrations report being unable to access them.

Attempts to download cards from the portal have reportedly returned error messages, while those schools that did receive some admit cards say the numbers are incomplete.

With exams only a day away, students in Karachi are reportedly spending time searching for their admit cards and exam centres rather than preparing for their papers.

Chairman of the Board of Secondary Education Karachi Ghulam Hussain Sahu told The Express Tribune that, “We are working around the clock, and the situation will be under control by this evening.”

“We started work on centre fixation back in January, but some people on the board are incompetent, and some have ulterior motives,” the chairman added.

He said that the school associations are also working with the same objectives and affirmed that "exams will not be postponed".

He claimed that 80 per cent of schools have already received their admit cards, and the remaining 20 per cent will also receive them soon.

On April 3, four days before the exams, an inspector from the Larkana Board was appointed as Karachi Board’s examination controller. However, sources say the new controller is struggling to grasp the full scope of the arrangements.

Ahmed Khan Chhutto was appointed as the Controller of Examinations on a one-year deputation. Chhutto previously served as Inspector of Institutions at the Larkana Board and, apparently, lacks prior experience in conducting examinations. Despite this, he has been assigned to the Karachi Board, the province's largest educational board in terms of student enrollment.

Read: Private schools oppose extended weekly closures

Over 300,000 candidates appear for the Class 9 and 10 exams under the Karachi Board, and now the academic future of these students rests in the hands of an officer with no prior experience managing such large-scale examinations.

According to board officials, the examination cell had handed over admit card uploading to the IT cell three days ago, making it impossible to upload more than 350,000 admit cards in such a short period.

The situation has raised concerns about whether the exams can proceed smoothly, with students and schools expressing growing frustration over the administrative failures.