KARACHI: Several decisions regarding academic sessions, holidays, examinations and admissions for 2016 were reached as the Steering Committee comprising people from the education department, directorates, private school managements and colleges met at Committee Room No. 1 at the Sindh Assembly under the chairmanship of Senior Minister for Education and Literacy Sindh Nisar Ahmed Khuhro here on Thursday.

Beginning of academic sessions was on top of the agenda. The committee decided that all schools will begin their academic sessions on April 1 while sessions at the institutions following the Cambridge system of O and A-Levels as well as colleges will commence from Aug 1. “Only schools that come under the Aga Khan University Examination Board will start their session from May 1,” said the education minister.

Vacations have always created confusion among schools. As per the Steering Committee’s decision, schools and colleges will close for summer vacation from June 1 to July 31 while winter vacation is planned for Dec 22 to Dec 31.

Other days such as Eid-i-Milad-un-Nabi, Pakistan Day, Iqbal Day, Shah Latif Day, etc., will be holidays but schools will remain open to hoist Pakistan’s flag and take part in other celebrations.

Meanwhile, admissions for up to class eight will commence from April 1 to be completed by April 10. Admissions for class 11 will be carried out according to Sindh E-Centralized College Admission Program and the term will begin from Sept 1. Admissions for class 12 are also to be completed by Sept 1 with everything there to be uploaded on their website.

About promotion in classes one to three, the senior minister said that he was not in favour of automatic promotion in the initial years of education without proper testing. So there will be a performance-based promotion system for these classes as well. Then from class five, things will get slightly more serious as there is a uniform system of examinations from the education department in the making, with a committee formed to look into how this can be carried out smoothly.

Exams for class eight are to be completed by March 15 with the results to be announced by March 31.

Exams for classes nine and 10 would be held from April 7. For class 10, the results are to be announced in Sindh by July 15 and in Karachi on July 31. Results for class nine will be announced 60 days after the announcement of Matric part II.

Theory exams for class 11 and 12 are to commence from April 28; results for class 12 to be announced on Aug 31 in Sindh and Sept 15 in Karachi.

In order to deal with the menace of copy culture, the minister said that exam papers would be set with 70 per cent of the questions being objective and multiple choice, and 30pc from books. He also announced that there would no longer be small examination centres. “Be it in one big hall or under a tent, we will have examination centres with a capacity for 1,000 students at each of the 209 union committees. This will make supervision and monitoring simpler. And if that too doesn’t work out we will start entry tests in every college,” he said.

The minister also said that higher secondary schools would be upgraded to colleges that way the lack of enrolment there could be remedied.

All schools and colleges in Sindh are also to not ignore sports. They are to provide the education department updates on their sports activities as well.

Answering a question about high fees in private schools, the minister said that the fee structure of any school could not be changed without approval from the directorate of private schools.

Replying to another question about the biometric system for teachers, he explained that it was to keep a check on teachers’ enrolment. “When teachers will come to school, the children will get education,” he said.

About introducing Sindhi language in schools, Nisar Khuhro pointed out that it was being taught in schools following the Matric system of education. “And we will take up the issue of teaching of Sindhi with private schools and Cambridge schools,” he assured.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2016