Matric board's e-marking dream crashes

What was projected as a major technological leap for the city's examination system has ended in controversy, confusion and financial loss. The Karachi Secondary Education Board has decided in principle to abandon its planned e-marking system for this year's matric examinations after serious administrative failures and alleged corruption under the board's previous management.

According to official sources, nearly 175,000 matric students are now expected to have their examination papers checked manually instead of through the digital assessment system that had been introduced for Class X mathematics and computer science papers.

The development comes after former board chairman Muhammad Hussain Sohu stepped down following corruption allegations and an inquiry report into irregularities at the board.

Sources said special answer sheets worth nearly Rs25 million had already been printed for e-marking purposes. Unlike ordinary examination copies, these papers were specifically designed for scanning and digital assessment and reportedly cost between Rs70 and Rs80 each, compared to the usual Rs28 to Rs30 per copy.

Officials said more than 350,000 such answer sheets had been printed for two Class X subjects alone, but they will now be manually checked by teachers because the digital marking system was never properly implemented.

Board sources further revealed that after the appointment of the new acting chairman, it emerged that the IT company hired for the e-marking project had never even been called to fully run or test the software despite the board spending around Rs18 million on its purchase.

The situation was compounded by the fact that no formal training sessions had been conducted for teachers responsible for digital assessment, leaving examiners unaware of how to operate the software or use its assessment tools.

Officials told The Express Tribune that efforts were now being made to introduce e-marking for all Class IX subjects instead, beginning with teacher training workshops. However, due to the June 30 deadline set for the announcement of matriculation results and the lack of trained markers, implementing e-marking for Class X this year was no longer considered feasible.

Meanwhile, despite recommendations in the inquiry report calling for the immediate removal of the board's controller of examinations, no official notification has yet been issued, even though the provincial minister for universities and boards has reportedly approved the findings of the report.