• Scrutiny fee slashed from Rs1,000 to Rs500
• JI says students ‘paying price of PPP’s anti-Karachi measures’
• APMSO demands affiliation of educational boards in urban Sindh with Centre

KARACHI: While the Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK) has formed a 12-member committee to resolve students’ complaints regarding first year exam results in three weeks, the opposition Jamaat-i-Islami and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan slammed the Pakistan Peoples Party-led provincial government to run educational boards in an ad hoc manner.

“The BIEK has constituted a 12-member inquiry committee comprising senior teacher to address students concerns on results of pre-medical, pre-engineering, general science, home economics, commerce and arts (private groups) of intermediate part I annual examinations for 2024,” said a notification.

“The inquiry committee also includes head examiners of all subjects, the principals of government colleges. The committee will examine the papers submitted for scrutiny and decide whether the complaints of the students are valid. It will also examine whether the questions in the papers were fairly comprehendible. After reviewing all the cases individually, the committee will submit its report and recommendations to the BIEK chairman within 21 days,” it said.

However, the JI and the student wing of the MQM-P, once again, expressed their lack of trust on the Pakistan Peoples Party-led Sindh government and the BIEK.

Speaking at a press conference, JI-Karachi chief Monem Zafar said students in Karachi have been paying the price for “never-ending anti-Karachi and anti-education measures by the PPP government”.

He highlighted that some five chairmen of the BIEK had been changed in just one year. “The government has taken educational boards as a police station as their heads are changed very frequently,” he said, adding that all the boards in the Sindh province were working on ad hoc basis.

He said his party had already constituted an educational committee to address the issue. He urged all the affected students to contact the JI’s committee so the party could play its role in resolving their problem.

Also on Tuesday, the All Pakistan Muttahida Students Organisation, the MQM-P’s student wing, demanded that all educational boards in urban Sindh be affiliated with the federal government as the PPP government had failed to run the boards in the metropolis.

Terming it a conspiracy to declare ‘fail’ students who got ‘A-1’ grade in their matric exams, the statement said that the APMSO would never allow injustices with Karachi students.

Students unhappy over Rs500 per paper scrutiny fee

The BIEK also reduced the scrutiny fee from Rs1,000 to Rs500 per paper.

However, the BIEK’s decision drew reaction from students, who took to social media and demanded that the board waive off the entire fee, as it was unfair to charge Rs500 for scrutiny of one paper.

Students have been protesting against the first year results and criticising the BIEK.

Sharing his ordeal, a student said: “I had secured over 82 per cent marks in matric exams, but in the first year result, I have been declared fail in two exams and I have got only 40pc marks [in remaining papers].”

Another student shared a similar story and said that her first year percentage was significantly dropped compared to her matric result.

“In one of my papers, I attempted all questions and correctly answered 18 MCQs (multiple choice questions) out of total 20. But I got only 17 marks, out of the total 100,” she said while expressing his doubt over the manner with which papers were checked.

However, acting BIEK chairman Syed Sharaf Ali Shah believed that majority of the complaints were inaccurate and students did not take classes and study hard.

When asked whether the scrutiny/reassessment of large number of students’ papers would be possible, acting BIEK chairman told the morning show of ARY News: “There are a few students who are actually ready for a scrutiny. Even last year, students had raised a hue and cry but out of 1,400 students only 62 had applied for a scrutiny.”

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2025