KARACHI, March 18: The use of unfair means by candidates in the ongoing SSC annual examinations is on the rise, but a minimal incidence of offence is reported to the authority concerned for any punitive action, sources in academic circles said.

Under the rules, a candidate found involved in cheating, exchanging information with other candidates or importing incriminate material from outside examination room during the conduct of examinations, can be expelled from the paper in question and be debarred for one to three years from appearing in the SSC examinations.

A person found impersonating any candidate at examination centre is liable to severe action. The centre superintendent had the authority to lodge a case against the impersonator with the police, while the candidate being impersonated could also be debarred from appearing in the examinations, a senior educationist said.

However, all cases of unfair means have not been reported. At many of the centres, candidates, including female ones, were at ease to use cheating material, while outsiders were also found impersonating or influencing the examination centres staff, a source said.

According to examination controller of the Board of Secondary Education, Karachi, Muhammad Salim Khan, a total of 15 cases of unfair means were officially reported to the board till Thursday.

He said that a couple of centre superintendents had informed about cases of impersonation during examinations, but they failed to nominate any body or report such incidents to the board officially.

Since the commencement of SSC examinations on March 8, the average catch of candidates using unfair means remained 1.25 candidates per shift, which reflected the negligence on the part of our staff, a senior teacher said.

It was further learnt that about 60 vigilance teams, comprising two senior school teachers or headmasters each, had also been visiting examination centres from March 15, when the major phase of examinations commenced.

The BSE controller of examination said that every vigilance team was required to visit three to four centres daily and as such the team members did not stay at a centre for whole session.

However, if situation emerged at any stage they could stay at one centre to assist the centre superintendent for the entire sitting at any particular centre, he added.

In the meantime, the controller mentioned that examinations were held peacefully at all centres, including that of St Joseph's Girls High School, Saddar, on Thursday.

He informed that a special team was sent to the St Joseph's school on Thursday to look into the reports that examination staff forced some of the candidates to take off their scarves or hijab during the examination.

"Though the team had not been provided with any written statement from school side, the examination staff have maintained that one of the candidates was asked to remove her scarf on the doubt that she was in possession of cheating material.

After recovery of the material at the entry, the candidate in question, however was allowed to wear her scarf or hijab while taking examination," the controller said and maintained that the problem was an isolated one, while rest of the candidates were not asked to remove their scarves at any stage.