KARACHI, June 5: The Committee of Chairmen of educational boards of Sindh on Monday reviewed the preparation regarding holding of Class IX (SSC Part-I) annual examination and confirmed that the exam will begin on June 20 as decided earlier.

Held at the Sindh Board of Technical Education, the chairmen’s meeting was presided over by COC chairman Anwar Ahmad Zai. The chairman of the Inter Board Committee of Chairmen (IBCC), Dr Zakriya Butt, also attended the meeting on the request of COC.

Mr Zai told Dawn that theory examinations of SSC-I would be completed by June 30, whereas practical would commence after July 1. Because of the non-availability of the second part of the Chemistry and Biology books, the meeting noted that papers in the two subjects would be drawn only from the content candidates had been taught during the academic session, he said.

He said the COC meeting, attended by all the six members of the boards, also proposed that some new criteria should be evolved by the IBCC about the grant of equivalence certificates to students taking their examinations under foreign boards.

He said the meeting discussed the existing system of deducting 5-10 per cent of marks obtained by O and A levels students in comparison with the matriculation system in vogue in Pakistan. It was observed that foreign board students who wanted to switch over to the matriculation system after completing O-levels were given certain marks against the grades they obtained in different subjects, but there was no rationale behind that and sometimes it proved unfriendly for O-levellers.

Mr Zai said the COC was of the view that if the foreign boards, including the Cambridge and American systems, start mentioning the exact marks obtained by the students, along with their grade, that would be of great help to students and the equivalence awarding bodies of Pakistan. At present students are given uniform marks against different grades, while their original worth is unknown or ignored by educational boards or universities of Pakistan.

The meeting was informed that the IBCC would hold a conference, involving British, Cambridge and American educational agencies as well as local experts on education, to get input on the issue of equivalence and recommend mechanism for the approval of the federal government. The conference would be organized by a committee comprising heads of the provincial COCs. Anwar A. Zai will be its chairman.

It was further learnt that a meeting of the provincial education ministers would consider, among other items on agenda, the equivalence issue on July 10 at Peshawar.

The Board of Secondary Education will accept examination forms of SSS Part-I (Class IX) Science and General Groups (Regular and Private) Annual examinations-2006 with a late fee of Rs1,000, Rs1,500 and Rs2,000 till June 10, June 17 and June 29 respectively, said a notification on Friday.