PHOTO: FILE
For the first time in its history, the Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK) has introduced bar-coded admit cards for over 225,000 students who will take the Higher Secondary School Certificate exams, to be held from April 28.
More than 135,000 Intermediate students of science, commerce, humanities, home economics and medical technology will try their luck during the first phase of the exams, which will conclude on May 20. In the second phase of these exams, starting from May 22, another band of around 90,000 students of Intermediate arts and those who are privately enrolled with the BIEK will appear for the exams.
“The step has been taken in view of growing concerns about the issue of impersonation and forgery during the Intermediate exams,” explained BIEK chairperson Prof Anwar Ahmed Zai at a press conference held on Friday to share details about the upcoming exams. “The students’ admit cards will now also have the encoded details, including actual photographs, of each of the registered candidates.”
Prof Ahmed Zai revealed that the BIEK had provided the superintendents of each of the 113 exam centres with internet-enabled smartphones that will make the immediate verification of a candidate’s credentials possible. “In case of suspicion of impersonation, an exam centre will only need to send a photograph of the barcode to the BIEK control room, which will reply with the registered candidate’s credentials right away,” he explained. “From next year, we intend to empower the exam centres to do this verification work on their own with the help of barcode scanners.”
For candidates appearing for their exams at centres other than the ones designated by the BIEK, examinations controller Muhammad Imran Khan Chishti said that the education board will mark all such candidates absent. In the past, many candidates have appeared for their exams at unauthorised centres, where they could anticipate ‘help’ from their relatives and friends on invigilation duty or even cheating mafias that pledge support in exchange of money.
“The centre superintendents will also be held responsible for allowing the unauthorised students to take the exams at their centres,” warned Chishti. “I am stating this loud and clear beforehand, lest any such candidates gather in front of the BIEK when the results are announced in order to stage a protest about failing their exams.”
Meanwhile, the BIEK has declared 21 exam centres out of a total of 113 centres as ‘sensitive’ and asked the controlling authority, the Sindh chief minister, to deploy the Rangers there during the exam hours.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 25th, 2015.
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