CM takes control of examination boards from governor

After 18th Amendment was promulgated, control of education boards was supposed to be transferred from governor to CM.

KARACHI:

The Sindh government has decided to transfer the control of examination boards from the governor to the chief minister.

It issued a notice on Thursday which stated that chief minister Qaim Ali Shah will now supervise the Board Secondary Education, Karachi, Board of Intermediate Education, Karachi, Board of Technical Education, Karachi and Board of Intermediate Secondary Education in Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Larkana and Sukkur.

After the 18th Amendment was promulgated in April 2010, the control of education boards was supposed to be transferred from the governor to chief minister. Though this was implemented in all other provinces, it never happened in Sindh.

Back in January 2011, Pakistan Peoples Party had passed a bill in Sindh Assembly, seeking to give the chief minister control of the boards. Governor Ishratul Ebad Khan, however, did not consent to to this.  “I want to retain control over the examination boards,” he had said at the time.

Ebad contended that the Sindh government was controlling the curriculum bureau and Sindh Textbook Board and that good governance and transparency in exams could only be ensured if an independent authority oversaw them.

Earlier, confusion had prevailed over who controlled the examination boards.  The spokesperson for Chief Minister House said soon after Sindh Assembly passed the bill, the chief minister had taken control. “The governor has nothing to do with examination boards and the chief minister has chaired every meeting of examination boards for a while now. The chief minister has had control for many months, but the notification has been issued on Thursday.”

When contacted, education secretary Mukhtiar Soomro told The Express Tribune that he did not know about the decision to give the chief minister control over the education boards. “I do not have any idea whether a notification has been issued to transfer power to the chief minister.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 28^th, 2012.