Put to test: Exams to start amid risk of cheating, no power

Board requests CM House for support to prevent cheating and secure exam centres.

KARACHI:

For Intermediate students around the city, the much-dreaded 'board exams' - the results of which will be pivotal in influencing the future of their scholastic pursuits - will begin from Tuesday.

As many as 190,000 students will take the first phase of the Higher Secondary School Certificate exams that culminate on May 14, announced the Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK) chairperson, Professor Anwar Ahmed Zai, on Friday. He was addressing a press conference at the board office along with the BIEK Examinations Controller Muhammad Imran Khan Chishti.

The public education board conducts Intermediate exams in two phases. The regular students - those who are enrolled at colleges - in either of science, commerce, home economics and medical technology groups - attempt the exams in the first phase. The second phase is meant for regular as well as private arts students and private commerce candidates.

Security concerns

Professor Zai said that the education board has established around 108 exam centres - 63 for boys and 45 for girls. Of those centres, 13 have been declared as 'most sensitive' while another 23 as 'sensitive' in terms of cheating and law and order situation.

These 'most sensitive' centres include the Government Degree Boys College in North Karachi, Government Premier College in North Nazimabad, Jinnah Government College in Nazimabad, Government College for Men in Nazimabad, Aisha Bawany Government Science College in Bizertta Lines, CMS Government Boys Secondary School on Nishter Road, Government Degree Science and Commerce College in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Government Degree Boys College in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Government National College in PECHS, Government Degree Science College Kashmir Road, Government Boys Science and Commerce College in Landhi and Government Degree Boys College in Korangi.

"By announcing the status of certain exam centres, the education board wants the controlling authority, who is the chief minister, to ensure the deployment of the police and paramilitary force to restrict any form of external interference," said Professor Zai. "We have provided CM House with the list of sensitive centres in advance because the law enforcement agencies did not cooperate in the past."

Chishti clarified that most of the colleges that had been labelled as 'sensitive' and 'most sensitive' were fine institutions but the political and non-political pressures from the surrounding localities of these colleges had affected the examination process negatively.

Electricity woes

Recently, K-Electric (KE) disconnected the power connections at 47 defaulting public colleges across the city. Professor Zai has said that the controlling authority should ensure the dues are cleared before the exams in order to save the students from taking them in the sweltering heat.

"Another major problem identified during the past several years was unavailability of electricity and frequent power outages," he said. "The issue of defaulting colleges aside, KE has in the past been insensitive to students' hardship despite verbal assurances from their officials to defer load-shedding during exams hours."

Published in The Express Tribune, April 20^th, 2014.