KARACHI, May 2: The HSC annual examinations 2006 will commence on May 16 under the Board of Intermediate Education, Karachi, said its chairman on Tuesday. When contacted, the chairman, Prof Iftikhar H Zaidi, said there was no change in the date of commencement of intermediate exams, which was announced by the steering committee of the Sindh education department some months back.

He said the exams, like in the past, will be conducted in two phases.

Candidates belonging to the Science and Commerce (regular and private) groups will be tested in the first phase starting on May 16, while Humanities (regular and private) exams will be held in the second phase, probably in early June, he said.

He said that examination staffs of the board were taking all measures to conduct the exams in a peaceful and foolproof manner.For the purposes of setting up examination centres, a preference was being given to government colleges, but in some cases private colleges would also be occupied, he added.

He said some of the colleges had been dropped from the list of centres keeping in view their previous performance or relatively poor reputation from the examination point of view.

In the meantime, a source in the government said the BIEK's request for extension in the date of commencement of HSC annual exams up to May 23 was turned down by authorities concerned.

The board has, lately, been asked to manage things and ensure exams from May 16 as per their original schedule, added the official.

In the meantime, a BIE notification said that marks-sheets of HSC (Humanities) Supplementary Examinations 2005 had been sent to the private candidates.

As such, failures, who desired to appear in the HSC annual examinations, 2006, can submit their forms latest by May 11 without late fees.

However, forms with late fees of Rs300 and Rs1,000 can be submitted up to May 18 and 27 respectively.

The leftover candidates, both fresh and failures, of parts I and II or both parts of the annual examinations, who could not submit their exam forms in time as per the previous notifications, can also avail the opportunity and submit their forms from May 19 to 27 with a late fee of Rs1,000.

An official of the board said that failures of supplementary examinations belonging to colleges should contact their respective principals and submit exam forms without late fees from May 8 to 13.

The fresh and leftover candidates from colleges can also submit their exam forms through colleges from May 22 to 27, with a late fee of Rs1,000.