KARACHI, Feb 20: An anomaly may still delay the holding of Class IX examinations. The meeting of the Committee of Chairman of secondary boards in Sindh has noticed the non-issuance of a formal notification about holding of separate examination for class IX and X this year.
The Sindh governor suspended the implementation of the composite examination system a week ago and allowed the secondary boards to hold examination for class IX this year. However, sources in the Sindh government said that formal notification in this respect had not been issued so far.
Due to non-issuance of the notification, the CoC meeting held here did not put the conducting of separate examination for class IX this year on its agenda for discussion. However, the issue was raised by the chairmen of different boards and the matter discussed at length. The CoC meeting did not reach any consensus over the commencement date of class IX exams on Tuesday and another meeting in this respect will be convened February 24.
The chairmen of various boards insisted to include the issue for discussion but the objection was raised that no ground work had been done on the issue. It was decided that the exams date for class X was April 17 and the class IX exam also be conducted along with the class X exam as the boards could not afford to conduct exams in separate months, as conducting the exams separately was expensive. It was suggested the exams be conducted simultaneously so that the centres could be set up at the same time and the boards could avoid additional expense.
The chairman of Karachi board, however, objected to the proposal saying a large number of students would appear for class IX in Karachi and it was hard to handle the process in such short time. The chairmen of the other boards pointed out that the composite exam issue was resolved after the culmination of class X exam last year and the case was different this year and the boards had enough time to manage.
The meeting was adjourned after the Karachi board chairman sought time to discuss it with the controller of examinations. The next meeting will be held on February 24.
Sources told Dawn that in Karachi board, 120,000 students appeared in the class IX exam last year and a higher number were expected this year. Sending forms to thousands of schools and despatching admit cards after verification of submitted forms is a lengthy process and would take time.