KARACHI, Jan 17: A joint meeting of the district officers (education) and chairmen of the educational boards in the province on Friday decided to reduce the weightage of the compulsory IT examinations at the intermediate level for this year.

Sources in the education department said that the meeting, while reviewing the arrangements and problems in conducting the examinations of IT as compulsory subject, resolved to uphold the previous decision of the Sindh education department to continue with IT education as compulsory subject in the years to come.

However the meeting, which was chaired by Education Secretary Nazar Hussain Mahar and attended by the chairmen of three education board and 30 district educational officers, decided to depart from some norms which were observed by educational boards in the case of the examinations of other compulsory subjects.

Now it is mandatory for students of colleges and higher secondary schools to appear in and pass the IT paper examination by securing 33 or more marks, otherwise they will be declared failed in the HSC annual examinations.

About 90000 students are registered for IT compulsory subject examinations with different educational boards and are at present in the process of submitting examination forms. However, there are reports and apprehensions that a large number of students will not be able to do good in examinations as they were not provided with even facilities including the teaching faculty and computers.

After a threadbare discussion on the issue, the members of the meeting decided that the annual examination of IT for the current session would be held as a compulsory subject as per the schedule announced earlier by the authorities concerned.

The sources said every candidate had to pass the IT examination and those who failed to clear the paper would not be issued pass certificates. The marks obtained in IT examinations would be added to grades under a special formula applicable for this year only.

The original score of IT theory and practical examinations secured by the student would not be mentioned on his or her marks-sheets. The marks secured would be reduced and then added to the rest for the purpose of grading.

The award formula for the year 2003 is as follows: A-1 grade (80 marks and above)= 15 marks, A grade (70 to 79 marks)=10 marks, B grade (60 to 69 marks)=5 marks, C grade (50 to 59 marks)=3 marks, D grade (40 to 49 marks)=2 marks and E grade (33 to 39) marks=1 mark.

Stating their position and preparation for IT education launched formally in the year 2002 in their respective educational institutions, the DOE (colleges) and DOE (secondary and higher secondary schools) assured the chair that the prescribed IT course would be completed within the allotted time, said an education department communication.

However, some of the participants of the meeting confided to Dawn that they felt that there was a remarkable gap between the privileged and non-privileged students. In the case of higher secondary schools, evening colleges and the educational institutions run outside Karachi and Hyderabad, there was the opinions that they were not up to the mark and unable to impart standard IT theory and practical education. They said the government was bound to hold IT examinations, otherwise it would have to refund the amount of Rs1500 collected from each student for compulsory IT education.

Commenting on the Friday’s decision, a couple of academicians said it could draw criticism and things could go beyond the control of the educational boards. They said the race for securing maximum marks in IT was on and even the students having lesser opportunities of good IT education would attempt to earn the maximum by all means, so the possibility of the “exam mafia interference” to exploit the situation could not be ruled out.

The decision to hold IT as compulsory subject in the given circumstances would increase the gap between the privileged and the non-privileged groups of students, said a teacher, adding that once they had decided to make the passing of IT examination as mandatory they should have gone go for awarding marks already fixed by the authorities on the pattern of NCC training marks as observed in the past.

However, the official sources said the decision was purely based on the observation and suggestions of the participants of the meeting and it would go a long way in the meaningful implementation of the IT course at the intermediate level in the province.

The newly evolved mechanism would not affect the overall grading of students in HSC examinations and the reduction in weightage would not cause any big gap between the “duly educated students” and non-privileged students.

According to other decisions taken by the meeting, the boards would declare the results on time and the private sector would also be involved for assessment of scripts of students. The Sindh education department would also notify the names of the teachers which would be provided to it by the chairmen of the boards concerned for the assessment of scripts, added the education department’s communication.