KARACHI, May 30: Sindh Chief Secretary Shakil Durrani, taking note of reported cheating and use of unfair means during the ongoing exams of various regional boards, decided to beef up the vigilance measures.

Holding a meeting on Wednesday, the chief secretary asked the officials concerned to ensure that the entire process from transportation of papers, their distribution and conduct of exams go smooth without any interference from any quarter or malpractices.

He also asked DCOs to give priority to the ongoing exams and take all possible steps to curb the menace of cheating. He said in addition to random inspections, action plans should be chalked out, coordination with examination boards regarding vigilance duties must be ensured in this respect.

The chief secretary made it clear that he did not wish to see a superficial checking by the district administrations but a supervision that was well-planned, without interfering in the arrangements put in place by the educational boards. He said the administrations must simply ensure that a well-covered supervision had been put in place and if needed was reinforced through the deployment of security at strategic places/ examination centres.

Mr Durrani also asked for taking concrete action as per law in cases of cheating such as suspending papers of the candidates involved in use of unfair means. All the DCOs were asked to send a weekly report showing the deployment of supervisory staff and action taken to the chief secretary office.