KARACHI / HYDER­ABAD: Ghulam Hussain Soho and Prof Dr Shuja Ahmed Mahesar, the chairmen of the Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) and Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Hyderabad, respectively, have resigned from their posts, it emerged on Tuesday.

The Karachi board’s Chairman, Ghulam Hussain Soho, stepped down after learning that a probe committee constituted by the Sindh Minister for Universities and Boards Mohammad Ismail Rahoo has recommended his suspension.

According to sources, the committee has completed its report, which reveals that the BSEK administrator had made changes to 170 exam centres during the ongoing matric examinations and, therefore, its chairman should be suspended.

Mr Soho, according to the sources, has written in his resignation that he had tried to reform the BSEK. This, he noted, included measures such as the complete automation of the system, online payments, grievance redressal system and training of examination staff. All this, he contended, did not sit well with his staff, who would not allow any improvement in the board’s functioning.

The Hyderabad board’s Chairman, Prof Dr Shuja Ahmed Mahesar, tendered his resignation after getting hurt over the way he was first suspended and then reinstated with a stern warning of dismissal.

Prof Mahesar, a noted researcher who headed Sindh University’s Pakistan Studies Centre, was selected in July by Sindh government’s search committee for a period of three years.

He was suspended in Dec 2025 over delays in the announcement of the results of class IX and XI exams, 2025. There were strong suspicions of other officials, associated with the office of the controller of examination, having been responsible for the delay but none of them was touched.

Prof Mahesar was reinstated on the post on April 1, 2026 only with a warning by the Universities & Boards secretary that “further lapse, negligence, or failure on the part of chairman shall entail strict action including removal from service, in accordance with law / rules”.

The committee that recommended suspension of Prof Mahesar was formed on Dec 19, 2025 and headed by Prof Dr Fateh Mohammad Marri.

“How can I perform with warning in reinstatement notification that threatens removal from service in case of any lapse,” Prof Mahesar wondered.

“I am a professor with a rich academic background and will rejoin Sindh University. It is tantamount to eroding the chairman’s authority given the mess BISE still faces despite my efforts. Still, I tried my best to bring some changes,” Prof Shuja said after submitting his resignation to the Universities & Boards Department on Tuesday.

His resignation has not been accepted as yet.

Committee’s observations

The committee obse­rved that six chairmen of the Hyderabad board had been changed between May 2023 and Dec 2025, and noted that the main source of delays and possible corruption in the board was “incompetent IT section”, which provides room for outsourcing of the most important task of results compilation.

The committee said that the “entire IT section and services are outsourced but payments are not made or delayed only to affect progress”.

It found that employees’ unions and undue political influence serve as a hub of all anomalies, irregularities, malpractices, expe­cted fraud etc.

The committee recommended issuance of a displeasure note to officers of the examination section advising them to improve their performance and behave professionally. It recommended that explanation should be sought from the BISE secretary, former secretary, store in-charge and purchase officer for delays in payments to invigilators, examiners and vendors / service providers.

It recommended that the deputy secretary (establishment) and the team needed to be reviewed immediately and capable / competent people of integrity be placed in this important section.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2026