KARACHI: As the annual Intermediate examinations commenced on Saturday, it was a pleasant surprise to not find any desperate students or parents complaining at the office of the Board of Intermediate Examination, Karachi (BIEK) about not getting admit cards on time.

But amid reports of paper leaks, BIEK’s confidence was shaken though there was also a fresh resolve to fight the bad elements.

The morning paper of English Normal for Pre-Engineering, Pre-Medical and Home Economics Part II leaked a few minutes ahead of distribution among the students. And within minutes the solved paper was also available on social media.

The paper leaks were narrowed down to two colleges, one on Nishtar Road and the other in Gadap Town. This could be traced thanks to watermarks on the question papers that mentioned the exam centres, a step masterminded by BIEK chairman Prof Nasim Ahmed Memon.

BIEK finds English Normal paper was leaked from two colleges minutes after commencement of exam; chairman vows to catch and punish wrongdoers

He then dispatched teams to investigate the matter and vowed to take action against those found guilty.

Munawar Abbas, who heads Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association (SPLA), said that although the papers were leaked they could not have been accessed easily by examinees as mobile phones were prohibited in all exam centres.

He was himself leading the team looking to investigate the matter and spoke to the media before heading out.

“What has happened is sad and disappointing. But I’m also quite sure that there were no teachers involved in such wrongdoing,” he told Dawn. “As teachers we really put our heart and soul into our teaching and feel terrible to learn about any student, in whom we invested so much time and effort, resorting to cheating,” he said.

BIEK’s Controller of Exams Zarina Rashid said that they had taken several measures to make sure there would be no cheating during the exams and the paper leak matter was disappointing.

“We wrote letters to the commissioner, deputy commissioners, police and Rangers and also got Section 144 [of the criminal procedure code] implemented around the examination centres,” she said.

“Cheating and paper leaks have been happening every year leaving us completely clueless about how it happened but this time because of the watermarks on the question papers we have at least got evidence of where the papers were leaked from,” she said.

Meanwhile, the BIEK chairman told Dawn that he was going to get the matter thoroughly investigated in light of the standard operating procedures issued by Board for the conducting of exams.

“There was to be strict observance of the rules to ensure nothing went wrong, though it did. Therefore, my teams have been sent to look into what happened. They are recording statements already. As the reports reach our central control room, we will form an inquiry committee for further investigation,” he said.

“The recommendations of the inquiry committee will be forwarded to the department of college education for strict disciplinary action against the culprits,” he said, adding: “From next year, we are also planning to move towards digitalisation and e-marking.”

Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2024