KARACHI: The annual examinations of the Secondary School Certificate (SSC), or matriculation part I and II, kicked off on Tuesday amid confusion about admit cards and rumours about paper leaks.

In the morning shift, from 9:30am to 12:30pm, students of class nine sat for their theory paper of Computer Studies and in the afternoon shift, from 2:30pm to 5:30pm, class 10 students sat for their General Science exam.

The question papers packed in sealed bubblegum pink coloured plastic packets were being hurriedly stacked into vehicles to be delivered to the exam centre hubs, but even before 9:30am rumours about paper leaks started circulating. Another few minutes passed and there were fresh rumours about the solved version of the leaked paper being also available on WhatsApp groups.

However, Board of Secondary Education (BSEK) chairman Dr Syed Sharaf Ali Shah said that those were merely rumours.

BSEK makes special arrangements for students having admit cards without centre’s name

During a talk with members of the media visiting examination centres with him, he explained that there was a difference between “paper leak” and “paper out”. He pointed out that “Paper out is deliberate and sounds like it is done by someone on the inside whereas paper leak may happen while the papers are being distributed among students and someone takes a picture of a question paper with their mobile,” he suggested, which brought up further questions about bringing cellphones to the exam centres.

He said there was Section 144 of the criminal procedure code imposed around all examination centres. “Now if the government cannot implement that Section 144, don’t look at us please,” he said.

Prof Shah also urged the media to give such news about paper leaks the benefit of doubt. “They can be just rumours also, which is normally the case,” he said.

At the Government Girls Comprehensive Higher Secondary School in North Nazimabad centre, which is only a few minutes away from the matric board office, the morning paper was distributed 20 minutes late. When the chairman was confronted regarding the matter, he denied that it was distributed that late. “Maybe there was just a five-minute delay due to an invigilator being slow,” he said. “We’ll give the students extra time to make up for the delay,” he said.

He also said that usually they got the papers to the exam centres some 50 to 20 minutes before the start of any exam.

About problems with not receiving admit cards on time, the chairman said his staff was working day and night to make sure the admit cards were ready. “The admit cards were available online, but when there would be too much traffic on our website, it simply crashed,” he explained.

Answering a question about the board’s incompetence in distributing admit cards on time, the chairman said that it was not the board’s incompetence. “It is the incompetence of the candidates, their parents and agents who represent schools because they fail to submit their papers on time. Finally, we are pressured to provide extra time to them,” he said. “It is sad that they are so careless. It is not that they don’t know better. They are quite well aware, educated people who are missing the deadlines to submit their children’s forms,” he regretted.

That said, he added that he was willing to look at the cases of schools where the schools’ agents goofed up in getting them the forms within the time limit. “The students of such schools are not at fault, but are victims of someone else’s incompetence,” he said.

Earlier, at the board office, special arrangements were made for students with faulty admit cards. “We don’t know where our centre are located so we are going to take our exams here,” said Iqra Rani while showing the media her admit card which displayed her photograph, but not the name of her centre. The space there was blank. Another candidate, Saira Shahid, was also facing the same situation along with some young boys there.

Some boys said they were also scolded by their parents for no fault of theirs. One boy told Dawn that his father blamed him for being careless for not finding out where his centre was located. “But honestly, it is not my fault,” he said.

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2024