Mismanagement: Jinnah College students forced to leave questions unanswered
Exam centre ran out of answer sheets, making the women wait for 20 minutes.
The delay caused most students to leave some questions unanswered and also restricted them from making diagrams. PHOTO: FILE
PESHAWAR:
A shortage of extra answer sheets forced intermediate students of Jinnah College for Women to wait for half an hour before they could continue their biology paper on Wednesday.
While taking the exam, students were quick to fill up their answer sheets and when they demanded more, invigilators deployed at the exam centre made them wait for over 20 minutes as the centre was out of answer sheets.
The delay caused most students to leave some questions unanswered and also restricted them from making diagrams.
One of the candidates, requesting anonymity, told The Express Tribune they were confused as invigilators kept delaying providing them with answer sheets and they kept sitting idle instead of answering questions.
She said after the scheduled exam time ended, invigilators gave students only ten extra minutes, which, she added, was unfair as the students were not responsible for the delay.
“It was one of the most important papers in which candidates try to obtain maximum marks but we faced immense difficulties due to the unavailability of answer sheets. Above all, we were denied extra time,” said the student. The college is supposed to ensure necessary arrangements prior to the exams, she added.
When contacted, the college principal said they had handed over the examination centres to the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Peshawar. The principal added the college had nothing to do with the issue since it was the board’s responsibility to ensure all essential items were on hand.
BISE Chairman Dr Shafi Afridi, however, denied reports of any such delay and said the extra answer sheets were delivered within five minutes.
“Although the board was not informed of the incident, as far as I have confirmed from staff members, it took hardly five minutes to distribute extra answer sheets among candidates,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 8th, 2014.
A shortage of extra answer sheets forced intermediate students of Jinnah College for Women to wait for half an hour before they could continue their biology paper on Wednesday.
While taking the exam, students were quick to fill up their answer sheets and when they demanded more, invigilators deployed at the exam centre made them wait for over 20 minutes as the centre was out of answer sheets.
The delay caused most students to leave some questions unanswered and also restricted them from making diagrams.
One of the candidates, requesting anonymity, told The Express Tribune they were confused as invigilators kept delaying providing them with answer sheets and they kept sitting idle instead of answering questions.
She said after the scheduled exam time ended, invigilators gave students only ten extra minutes, which, she added, was unfair as the students were not responsible for the delay.
“It was one of the most important papers in which candidates try to obtain maximum marks but we faced immense difficulties due to the unavailability of answer sheets. Above all, we were denied extra time,” said the student. The college is supposed to ensure necessary arrangements prior to the exams, she added.
When contacted, the college principal said they had handed over the examination centres to the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Peshawar. The principal added the college had nothing to do with the issue since it was the board’s responsibility to ensure all essential items were on hand.
BISE Chairman Dr Shafi Afridi, however, denied reports of any such delay and said the extra answer sheets were delivered within five minutes.
“Although the board was not informed of the incident, as far as I have confirmed from staff members, it took hardly five minutes to distribute extra answer sheets among candidates,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 8th, 2014.