THE child of a colleague appeared for the Grade IX board examinations this year. He was shocked when he got his marks.

He thought his papers had gone much better than what the marks indicated. In at least three papers he was sure he deserved at least 10 more marks. Thirty marks in matriculation examinations, given the competition for admissions in colleges, can make all the difference. The child was distraught and depressed after he got his results.

His previous academic record, consisting largely of internal school examinations, did indicate a much higher level of achievement. He was top of his class and had been doing very well in almost every subject. Even in the mock examinations his school conducted, he had done very well. Since schools have become very good at teaching with an eye on examinations and prepping students on exam-taking techniques, he and his teachers expected much more from him.

He was disconcerted enough to get his father to agree to allow him to appeal for a review of his grades. Apart from a basic fee, you have to pay Rs700 per paper to get a look. And there is an upper limit: you can only have up to three papers reviewed. For a middle-income person, paying up Rs2,200-2,300 just to get a look at exam sheets is a serious financial decision. The father thought there was a chance the marks might go up, but more importantly, that this would be the best way to address the child’s anxiety.

But this is where things got weird. They filed for review, paid the money and eventually got a date when the boy could look at his papers. The father took a day off from work to file the application for review and then took another day off to accompany the child to the office of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education; since the boy is only 14 or so, he could not go alone. But, at the Board office, the father was told that only the child could go into the building and only he would be able to have a look at his papers. He went in and came back 30 minutes later, but even more depressed than before.

He said that the person showing him his papers did not know anything about any of the subjects. When the boy would point out where he thought his answer was correct but he had been given low marks, where something had been marked incorrect when it was correct, or even where something had not been given credit for that should have been marked, the person showing him the paper kept saying “You cannot contest that. There is a High Court ruling that precludes your contesting this.” The child looked at all three of his papers, found that his suspicion that he had been marked wrongly was correct, but also found that the Board employee was not willing to do anything about any of the things he had pointed out. He was then shown the door.

Does it make sense for papers to be seen only by a 14/15-year-old and not an accompanying adult in case we need to have a review process? Does it make any sense for the review process to be there even if no subject expert is available to give the student feedback on his or her concerns? And how does quoting High Court rulings to teenagers make for a good review process?

After this experience the father has been berating the child for having made him waste two days of leave and over Rs2,000 on the whole process. Secondly, the father and son are even more convinced of the fact that the grading process is unfair and that even the reviews are only for the rich and powerful. Then, the father has been drilling into the son that he should accept that the poor are children of a lesser god in Pakistan and he should take that as a given and forget about good colleges and adjust his aspirations accordingly. All this after the father and son have gone through a lot to keep the son in the best possible private schools that the father could afford. Can something be more heartbreaking than to see a child’s spirit being broken?

The father subsequently emailed the chairperson of the Board, detailing what had happened. It has been three weeks and at least two reminders; my colleague has not even had an acknowledgement from the chairperson’s office.

My colleague is not the only one who has had such an experience. A number of parents tell similar tales of woe. In one instance when parents filed for a review, again for three subjects, on behalf of their daughter, they were told they could have the papers reviewed one month after when they filed the application. It has already been three or four months since the examinations. If the review doesn’t happen for six months, the intention is clearly to not have a quick review process and/or let the children go on with the second year of their matriculation process.

Are the Boards just making money off the review processes, and is the process just eyewash to give the impression of responsiveness to parents and society? The review processes, as experienced by these parents, appear to be just that. How good are the grading processes of the Boards? What is the margin of error? Maybe the Boards should have independent assessments done of the grading processes, improve them if needed, and then have review processes tailored accordingly. A more systematic approach to the issue, given its importance, seems warranted.

The writer is senior adviser, Pakistan, at Open Society Foundations, associate professor of economics, LUMS, and a visiting fellow at IDEAS, Lahore.