LAHORE: A good number of intermediate (part-I) students on Thursday held a demonstration against the Lahore Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education for what they said ‘wrong marking’ of their papers and demanded re-examination.

The students of different colleges including FC, Civil Lines, KIPs and Punjab College first gathered outside the Lahore Press Club and chanted slogans against the board. After spending about two hours there, they marched on The Mall where they camped for more than four hours outside the Punjab Assembly.

Worst traffic jam was witnessed on adjoining roads of the press club and The Mall for several hours because of the protest.

Demand re-examination; secretary allows free of cost recount

Parents of some students accompanied them and vowed to move the court if the government did not listen to their ‘genuine’ concern about the ‘bad marking’.

“Stern action should be taken against the Lahore board officials responsible for wrong paper marking,” read a placard held by a KIPs’ girl student. Another banner read, “We want justice. We will not let you destroy our future.”

The students have pinpointed ‘wrong marking’ in Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics and Economics, saying never in the past such a large number of students in one exam have been affected by wrong marking.

“I failed in Economics despite the fact that I had attempted all questions and was expecting very good marks,” Musharraf Ali of Islamia College Civil Lines told Dawn.

He said it appeared that some ‘non-professionals’ had been engaged for paper marking that was why such a large number of students had been affected.

Tamana Abbas, who secured 1,024 marks in matriculation exam, was upset for securing just 466 marks in intermediate (part-I) pre-engineering.

“I got less than the expected marks in English and Chemistry. During tests in college I always obtained good marks. This did not happen to me alone as a good number of my class fellows have more or less same complaints,” Ms Abbas of KIPs College told this reporter.

“Re-examination of our papers is the only solution to our problem,” voiced Rizwan Raza, Ahar Ahmad and Ahmad Mustafa of Punjab College.

They said even some students got 70 plus marks but they attempted 50 marks questions. Such anomalies were only possible if non-professionals marked papers, they said.

Rana Aftab said his daughter secured about 90 per cent marks in matriculation but in intermediate (part-I) exam she got poor score in Biology and Chemistry despite attempting all questions.

“She is depressed and has lost trust in our examination system,” Mr Aftab said, adding he would file a petition with the Lahore High Court if the government did not redress the students’ grievances.

Lahore BISE Chairman Chaudhry Ismail asked the students to apply for rechecking of the papers as it was the only available legal tool to address their concern.

According to board’s definition of rechecking, the obtained numbers of all subjects a student gets are recounted. The papers are not re-examined afresh.

Meanwhile, the chief minister has taken notice of the protest and directed the education secretary to look into the matter. The education secretary asked the Lahore board to carry out ‘rechecking’ of the papers free of cost.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2016