KARACHI, March 17: A number of candidates repeating their class-IX papers on Monday had to suffer considerably at the hands of different centre superintendents who were unaware of a recent decision of the education board to facilitate the students further.

About a week ago, the Board of Secondary Education, Karachi, had announced that those candidates of SSC annual examinations 2003 who missed their failed papers, held from March 1 to 10, could appear in the failed but leftover papers along with those of class-IX of their respective groups at their own examination centres.

However, when the examinations of fresh students of class-IX and X began on Monday, a number of candidates had to run from pillar to post, as they were not entertained and many of them reached the Board Office at the eleventh hour.

Sources in the Board said that the students, after being returned by some of the centre superintendents, continued reaching at the Board Office till 2.45pm while their exam had stated at 2pm. The students coming from Orangi Town and North Karachi informed the reporting cell of the BSE that centre superintendents were either unaware of the decision or were deliberately denying them the opportunity to appear in the exam and they had been referred to the Board Office.

According to the students, the reporting cell staff tackled the matter and the students were either sent to the original places of examination with necessary instructions to the staff or were accommodated at the nearby centres as they were already running behind the schedule.

The BSE controller of examinations, Mohammad Saleem Khan, said that the notification pertaining to failed papers exams had been sent to the centre superintendents well on time through the group leaders and it was deplorable that the students had to suffer in some cases. He said the decision to facilitate the students had been taken as a considerable number of candidates had approached the Board, requesting for a second opportunity as they could not take the exam between March 1 and 10 due to some misunderstanding.

The main phase of SSC annual examinations commenced on Monday in 333 centres. About 142,000 students had been registered for class-X general and class-IX science group examinations scheduled for the day.

A Board official said that the exams were held peacefully in two shifts. However, he said that he had received a report from the BSE vigilance team that outsiders had entered the premises of GBBS No 2 Jacob Lines centre as no security arrangements were made by the LEAs there.

It was learnt that some of the candidates came to centres where they were not authorized to appear. However, the BSE official said that the Board had allowed some of the candidates to appear at a centre in Murad Memon Goth, Malir, only on Monday to save them from missing their papers of the day.

Some citizens told Dawn over telephone that they had come to know that cheating was rampant at some centres in Nazimabad. They alleged that teachers had turned friendly to students during the exams.

Some overlapping was also reported in the working of the Board vigilance teams. At least 83 vigilance teams, consisting of two members each, have been constituted which would visit 4-5 centres daily.

An emergency reporting cell has also been set up at the Board to help students, examination staff as well as centre superintendents in case of any problem. The cell is being headed by Hanifa Qazi while Saeed Raza and Mohammad Ali Shaiq are its members and can be contacted on phone Nos: 6617409 and 6615507.

SUSPENDED: The EDO (education) has ordered suspension of the headmistress and a clerk of the SMB Fatima Government Girls School, Garden, besides instituting a case against the clerk.

A press release said that the clerk, despite collecting examination fees from 17 of the class-IX students of the school, failed to forward the forms to the Board and the students could not be issued admit cards till Monday.

It was stated that the clerk also misappropriated the fees, while the headmistress failed to inform the high-ups for taking timely action.

However, on the intervention of the EDO, the Board has agreed to issue admits cards to the affected candidates on Tuesday morning, enabling them to take their papers in the second shift.