KARACHI, March 29: In line with the action taken by the Board of Intermediate Education, Karachi, the HSC annual examinations for candidates of Hyderabad, Larkana and Sukkur board could also be delayed for some time, said sources in the education department.
Official sources in the Sindh Education Department said on Monday that following the alleged deviation from the steering committee's resolution pertaining to dates of examinations, now the educational authorities were considering to review the whole matter afresh in order to bring uniformity in the examination exercises of different educational boards in the province.
On Saturday, the BIEK officials had stated that the HSC annual examinations-2004 would be conducted from April 28 onwards and a clearance in this regard had been given by the education secretary.
Other educational boards in line with the schedule, approved by the provincial steering committee in its meeting on Jan 20, are holding the examinations from April 20.
A source said that any allowance of facility, ignoring the steering committee, was tantamount to making the committee as well as the education department ineffective. If the Karachi board had been granted permission to delay the examination than candidates of other educational boards of the province be also facilitated.
Another source in the education department conceded that it would be right in the essence of uniformity that either the Karachi board be asked to hold exams from April 20 or other boards be advised to delay their exams till April 28.
If the Karachi board had any problem it should have made presentation during the steering committee's meeting on Jan 18, rather abstaining from the proceedings, added the source and suggested for an emergent meeting of the committee, which was the only authority to review its decision.
Talking to newsmen at a college on Monday, Sindh Education Minister Irfanullah Marwat said that the development needed review and he would surely look into the matter.
When contacted, Secretary Education Ghulam Ali Pasha said that he would soon be convening a meeting of the steering committee on the subject to remove the anomaly. He agreed to the fact that examinations should commence on a given date simultaneously through out the province.
ATTENDANCE RULES: The provincial education department has decided to constitute a committee at provincial level to check the implementation status of the mandatory attendance rules for college students, said an official source in the department on Monday.
There were reports that many of the colleges were not taking the 75 per cent compulsory attendance rule seriously and exam forms of the candidates who had failed to maintain the required attendance had been forwarded to education boards.
Secretary Education has taken notice of the situation and the formal notification about the monitoring committee would be issued on Tuesday, the source added.