HYDERABAD: Ad-hocism ruled supreme in the Hyderabad Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE), for quite some time with a mess in its affairs refusing to be over.
Intermediate exam results continue to become a point of controversy, leading to an inquiry into the mess ordered by the minister concerned.
The board has been plagued by irregularities over the last several years. In the latest case of alleged malpractice in the HSC part-II exams 2026, the Universities & Boards Department ordered a fully-fledged inquiry and suspended one official, Aijaz Kaka, very recently.
The inquiry committee headed by Dr Arbella Bhutto met the board’s controller of examination, secretary and other officials, including Mr Sajid, said to be a close associate of Aijaz Kaka.
Mr Sajid’s mobile phone was examined. He had obtained copies of 43 mark sheets of LUMHS candidates which were found tampered, sources in the board and privy to the inquiry committee said.
Aijaz Kaka filed a petition against the selection of inquiry committee members but a bench of Sindh High Court, Hyderabad circuit, turned down the request and asked him to join the probe. The court, however, restrained the committee from finalising its findings till the next two weeks.
Fight for grip & maneuvering
The Hyderabad BISE works under stop-gap arrangement. An acting chairman, Faqir M Lakho, who is the Chairman of the Karachi BISE, holds the additional charge of the Hyderabad BISE Chairman. No regular secretary exists. Controller of examination has been on deputation, which is about to be over.
The U&B Secretary, Abbas Baloch, says that a regular BISE chairman will be appointed soon as interviews have been conducted. “We have asked all boards to share their vacancies as required rules have been framed and vacancies will be filled accordingly,” he said.
Ad-hocism in the Hyderabad BISE, an official says, is indeed an issue but certain elements within the board are directly responsible for the present mess. “These elements maintain their stranglehold over the board’s affairs. They have been engaged in a tug of war to maintain their grip on the board’s affairs. “In the 2026 exams, like previous years, millions of rupees are believed to have changed hands only to render the results tainted, once again. The board’s affairs need to be streamlined and transparency ensured,” he said.
Such elements also failed the outgoing chairman, Prof Dr Shuja Mahesar, a noted Pakistan Studies researcher appointed by the search committee for three years, who had tried to bring about reforms, but fallen prey to maneuvering by unscrupulous elements. He was first suspended by the U&B Department for “delaying the class-IX results”. Eventually, he resigned. It was Mr Mahesar who had removed Aijaz Kaka from the additional charge of the assistant controller of the board’s secret branch first.
“I had tried to bring reforms but this didn’t go down well with certain people. I wanted to digitise assessment of answer copies, and signed an agreement with Inter Board Coordination Commission (IBCC) of federal education ministry,” he said. He added that one paper of English was assessed online in 2025 and the programme was to be implemented in 2026.
“I then faced threats and hurdles from those involved in such malpractices. These elements were encouraged to violate rules and to ignore directives of the chairman for timely compilation and announcement of results transparently,” said Mr Shuja.
Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2026
