KARACHI, May 30: The second phase of intermediate annual examinations, under the aegis of Board of Intermediate Education, Karachi, began on Friday.

About 63,500 candidates have been registered for the Humanities (Regular and private), Commerce (private), Special Education (Regular and private) and Diploma in Physical Education groups’ examinations. Examinations are being conducted at 97 centres in two shifts.

A senior board official said there was only one paper that of Humanities (Regular) group in the morning shift on Friday, which was held peacefully. From Saturday onwards examinations would be held in two shift.

Meanwhile, in view of the two-month summer vacations in government schools and colleges, which commence from June 1, the college teachers’ body has demanded compensation against examination duties which they would be performing in the vacations days.

A senior leader of the Sindh Professors and Lecturers’ Association said about 1,500 college teachers would perform examination duties in various capacities from June 1, and as such they deserved conveyance allowance, in addition to what they were paid as honorarium by the BIE.

He claimed the government did not pay conveyance allowance to college teachers for vacation days as teachers were not required to report for duties for two months of vacation. In a situation when the government deduct the routine payment of conveyance allowance, it was obligatory on the part of the board to pay extra amount to the teachers on account of conveyance.

He said while teachers were required to perform as internal and external examiners at different practical examinations of science groups, a good number of them would be performing as invigilator during the second phase of HSC exams as well.