KARACHI: The first phase of the annual intermediate examinations for classes 11 and 12 is set to begin on Wednesday (today), announced Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK) chairman Fakir Muhammad Lakho on Tuesday.

The exams will comprise Science pre-Engineering, pre-Medical, Science General, Home Economics, Arts Regular, Arts Private, special candidates, diploma in Physical Education, grade improvement, etc.

Altogether, 159,572 candidates are appearing in the morning and evening shifts of the exams at 175 examination centres, of which 130 centres will host the morning exams and 45 evening.

A total of 21 exam centres have been declared highly sensitive. Another nine have been classified as somewhat sensitive, bringing the total to 30.

The BIEK chairman said that, for the first time, a Digital Attendance Monitoring System (Dams) has been introduced to make the examination process more transparent and effective. Under Dams, the attendance of students and exam staff will be recorded digitally.

For the safe and timely delivery of the sealed question papers, everything will be monitored on camera, with images captured in real time during the transportation, opening, collection and resealing of the papers after the exam.

Additionally, centre superintendents (principals) and vigilance officers will remain present at the examination centres. The names of the examination centres are printed on each paper in the form of QR codes or barcodes.

Lakho further said that for the smooth conducting of the exams, he has written letters to the Sindh IG Police, Karachi Commissioner, Deputy Commissioners, DIG Special Security Unit, DIG Traffic, Sindh Rangers, Secretary College Education, the Literacy Department, Secretary School Education, the Sindh Health Department and K-Electric. The last two mentioned are especially important in view of the heat wave.

Since cheating is a major concern during exams, and it has been seen previously that papers are leaked on WhatsApp groups beforehand. For this, a letter has also been written to the South Director of the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency so that legal action is taken against the admins and members of such WhatsApp groups.

Besides, Section 144 will be imposed around the examination centres, under which there will be a strict ban on the operation of photocopy shops near any examination centre.

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2026