Delays in results: Students suffer as authorities bicker over remuneration

Assessors refuse to check copies of HSC part I exams until their demands are met.

HYDERABAD:

College students, who sat for the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) part I examinations, may not get their results on time.

More than 35,000 students from nine districts of Hyderabad division undertook the HSC part I exams in May this year. A month-long dispute between the education board and the assessors seems to have entered a deadlock. While the college teachers say they will continue their boycott by not checking the papers, and the authorities of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education say they have alternative options.

The contention is reportedly over the increase of travel allowance, daily allowance and per copy remuneration paid to the assessors. As their demands remained unheeded, the assessors stopped checking the copies four weeks ago. "We may go to court after Eid if the board does not heed our concerns," warned Prof. Shahjahan Panhwar of Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association (SPLA), at a press conference on Monday.



According to him, the Sindh government had issued a notification several months ago with regard to the increase in the travel and daily allowance for the assessors. "The Karachi, Sukkur and Larkana boards have raised the allowances to upto Rs1,600 per day and they also pay Rs22 per copy." The BISE Hyderabad, however, pays only Rs10 per copy and Rs950 as travel and daily allowance to the assessors coming from other districts and Rs300 to the locals.

A subject specialist is allowed to check up to 40 copies every day in the five hours' allotted time at the BISE's office in Hyderabad. The whole process, involving hundreds of assessors, lasts up to five to six weeks.

The SPLA leader said that the college teachers had not boycotted checking the HSC part II papers because it would have delayed the students' admissions in the institutions of higher education.

Contrarily, the BISE chairperson, Dr Abdul Aleem Khanzada, claimed that the assessors had terminated the assessment half way to put pressure on the board. He told The Express Tribune that around 50 per cent of the HSC part I papers had already been assessed. "If we accept their demands, the board will have to pay between Rs30 million to Rs40 million for the allowances and remuneration. Our budget for the current year has not set aside such a huge sum for this process."

According to him, the assessors have been assured that their demands will be taken up in the next budget. The assessors, however, have not agreed to the terms. If the assessors do not end their boycott, Khanzada said the board will hire teachers of the private colleges for the task.

Meanwhile, the SPLA representatives claim that in the name of affiliated colleges, the papers will be checked by the board's administrative staff that lacks the capability to do this. "The board's reputation regarding transparency and merit in the examination results is already questionable. It will take a further dive," said the SPLA's Prof Imtiaz Shaikh. He questioned how the board would satisfy the private college teachers with the meagre remuneration when the government sector teachers are unwilling to work for it.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 15^th, 2013.