RAWALPINDI: The Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Rawalpindi has made foolproof arrangements to avoid any paper leak in annual Secondary Certificate Examination 2023 staring from today (Saturday).

Last year, five papers were leaked in annual examination which led to cancelation of papers. After the paper leaks, the Punjab government removed BISE Rawalpindi chairman Dr Khalid Mehmood and suspended Controller Examination Shahinshah Babar Khan.

Then Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz constituted a three-member committee to investigate the papers leak.

Mathematics (evening session) and chemistry, biology, computer science (morning session) of the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) Part-II Annual Examinations, 2022 were leaked.

BISE Rawalpindi spokesman Arslan Cheema told Dawn that after the paper leak scandal, this year the examination centres are being monitored strictly. He said the BISE Chairman Mohammad Adnan Khan, Controller of Examinations Sajid Mehmood Farooqui and other senior officials were on their toes to make sure the examinations are held transparently and fairly.

He said the BISE aimed to protect the future of the students who worked hard in a year and provided better environment for the examination. He said that SSC 2023 would start from April 1 and would be ended after Eidul Fitr.

He said that BISE had made arrangements for the examination and in this regard, the special branch of police would keep an eye on the examination staff to avoid any paper leak.

“The details of all superintendents, deputy superintendents and supervisors in this regard have been compiled and sent to Special Branch of Police and Intelligence Bureau for scrutiny,” he said.

He said that all envelopes of question papers are encrypted with a secret code to avoid tampering/premature publication. An IT Clerk has been appointed for each examination centre to ensure timely attendance of candidates and staff to the board online. “Basic aim of the security code to check immediately about the main source of paper leakage,” he said.

He said that vigilance teams had been constituted in six districts of Rawalpindi division including Rawalpindi, Attock, Chakwal, Jhelum, Murree and Talagang. He said that the work of these teams would also be monitored.

He said that the chairman and controller of examinations vowed that they would provide the best examination facilities to the students so that they could conduct their examination smoothly. “Special squads, mobile inspectors and vigilance committees will inspect the examination centres on a daily basis and send their reports to the board office and based on these reports, the arrangements will be further improved and complaints will be redressed promptly,” he said.

Published in Dawn, April 1st, 2023