Hot and bothered: Sweaty students struggle to concentrate as load-shedding mars exams

K-Electric claims govt owes over Rs12.7m but has agreed to defer load-shedding during exams .

KARACHI:

Over 200,000 students braved the scorching heat to appear for their exams on the first two days of the Intermediate exams, which started on Tuesday.

The lack of power added to the misery of the already edgy students, who perspired as they nervously pored over their exam papers, struggling to concentrate on the answers. The first phase of the Intermediate exams, under the Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK), kicked off on Tuesday amid students’ complaints regarding lack of power at most of the 108 exam centres, established at public and private colleges across the city.

The situation even vexed the provincial education minister, Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, who made a surprise visit to several exam centres on Wednesday, along with BIEK chairperson Anwar Ahmed Zai and public and private colleges’ director-generals, Dr Nasir Ansar and Mansoob Ahmed Siddiqui, respectively.



“It is deplorable that K-Electric has made the students suffer in the heat even after they were asked to refrain from load-shedding during exam hours,” said Khuhro. “Inflicting penalty on students during their exams because colleges have unpaid dues is quite inappropriate. We can assure that all the dues will be cleared but using such tactics is a bad choice.”

Meanwhile, Prof Zai said that K-Electric did not change its schedule, despite assurance from its officials that the load-shedding hours will be deferred during the exams.

“While we have resolved the security concerns in the best possible manner, the major problem that was identified during the first two days of the exams was the lack of power at the centres,” the board’s examinations controller, Muhammad Imran Khan Chishti, told The Express Tribune.

Rashid Nabi, who was supervising the English exam at the Government Degree Science and Commerce College in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, told The Express Tribune that the electricity load-shedding during the exam hours had disturbed the whole process.

“The slogans of corporate social responsibility are merely a façade,” asserted Nabi. “K-Electric can exempt the whole city from load-shedding for a cricket match but it can’t give relief to over 200,000 students by exempting the 108 exam centres for a few days.”

At the centre, around 350 candidates of the commerce group were struggling to concentrate on the exam with sweat running down their faces. “It seems we are being made to endure the heat as punishment,” remarked 17-year-old Saad Habib.

At the Government College for Women at Sharae Liaquat, where around 750 female students of the pre-medical group sat for their Urdu exam on Wednesday, non-availability of electricity for around two hours during the exam compelled their parents to protest outside the institution.

Students can, however, expect to have better conditions from Thursday as K-Electric has decided to provide relief to most centres. “Despite outstanding power dues payable by the ministry of education that exceed Rs12.7 million, K-Electric has decided to exempt 85 per cent of the Intermediate exam centres from load-shedding,” said the power utility company’s spokesperson, when approached by The Express Tribune.  

Published in The Express Tribune, April 24^th, 2014.