KARACHI, Dec 4: The Board of Intermediate Education, Karachi, is likely to involve retired government and private college teachers in examination-script assessment from the next year, official sources said.

It was learnt that the Board was finding it hard to carry out the assessment job on time due to shortage of qualified teachers. The number of co-examiners, who scrutinize the answer-scripts of annual examinations, has been shrinking while that of candidates continued to increase.

Because of this, the Board has been unable to get the scripts assessed on time, particularly those of the compulsory subjects, including English, Urdu, Islamic and Pakistan Studies.

The maximum number of available script-assessors for the annual examinations last time was 110 in Urdu, while in English and other major subjects the figure was even below 90.

Under the existing mechanism, the Board requires only 22 scripts assessed by one co-examiner in three hours a day.

Thus, assessment of first- and second-year scripts of papers, like English and Urdu, could be completed only in 75 to 80 working days, according to the sources, who said that the Board had no option but to invite retired college teachers or those belonging to the private sector with a three-year experience in the concerned subject.

The problem was discussed in a recent meeting of the Sindh education department’s steering committee and the authorities were requested to look into the issue and reinforce the directives of the department that teachers should not avoid examination works, otherwise they could be subjected to action under efficiency and disciplinary rules.

It was observed in the meeting that the education department with the coordination of the Board would once again pursue the teachers for taking part in the examination works.

A senior Board official said that with the increase in the number of script assessors, the process could not only be shortened but it would also reduce the work load on teachers

who would be able to pay more attention to the scripts and would be able to learn about the impact of their classroom teaching.

The scripts reflected only what a candidate learned from his teachers.

It was learnt that the Board would publish advertisement in the press with regard to assessment assignment, inviting retired government and private college teachers as well as sitting cadre of teachers.

Under the existing practices, qualified teachers can report to the head-examiners at any of the Board’s assessment centres, while head-examiners have got the privilege to ask any teacher not to come next time, if he is not satisfied with his performance.

A source in the academic circle said that college teachers did consider it viable to take up the script assessment job, though compulsory for them, as it was not paying. “They are already engaged by coaching centres and other institutions on good payments and as such they do not deem it fit to devote at least five hours every day to the exam job.”

However, the Board’s official was of the view that the larger the number of co-examiners the shorter would be assessment of scripts and marks-tabulation process, which would finally contribute to the early declaration of exam results.