BSEK annual exams to commence from 24th

Karachi, The annual examinations of the Class IX, X (Regular and Private) will start from March 24, 2010, Syed Anzar Hussain Zaidi said on Wednesday.

BSEK also took serious notice of complaints regarding the cases of with-holding of admit cards of students, and directed the heads of such schools not to hold any admit cards without proper reasons.

The Board has been receiving a number of complaints that private schools are with-holding the admit cards of the Class IX and X students without any justified reasons or grounds which is unfair, Zaidi said.

However, there is no clear instructions available in the notification regarding the fees process and the loophole in the notification will provide benefits to the private schools, The News has observed.

Over 0.296 million candidates have registered for the annual examinations. Out of them, at least 12 candidates will appear from the central jail, he added. The BSEK has arranged 431 examination centres, including one at the central jail, he added.

According to the chairman BSEK, there would 241 examination centres for male candidates while female candidates would appear at 190 examination centres.

“The Board will request the Home department to impose Section 144 around these examination centres to control the law and order situation during the annual exams, he told local media.

He added that over 100 vigilance teams would also visit the examinations centres, he further said. Each vigilance team would comprise two members, whereas areas like Malir, South, East, West and Central would be monitored by special teams.

The Department of the Education, Sindh, and members of the Board would participate in this special committee, Zaidi said.

BSEK removes confusion over exam papers

KARACHI, Feb 21: A fresh statement by the examination controller of the Board of Secondary Education Karachi on Sunday almost ended any lingering hopes of Class IX students that questions from Book-II of Biology and Chemistry might be dropped from the annual examinations as most government schools in the city have not received the two books during the academic session.

BSEK controller of examination Kalim Kirmani told Dawn that the papers would carry questions from both the parts (Book-I and Book-II) of Biology and Chemistry.

The Secondary School Certificate (Class IX and X) annual examinations-2010 are scheduled to begin on March 24.

When this scribe drew the attention of Mr Kirmani towards the general complaint of mostly government schools that due to non-provision of the Book-II of both the subjects during the current academic session Class IX students had studied only Book-I of Chemistry and Biology, he made it clear that the papers would be prepared with questions from both the books.

However, he said that it would not be difficult for students, who confined their studies to Book-I of both the subjects, to attempt all questions. “In fact, the paper-setters of the BSEK will be asked to include questions from Book-I and Book-II of both Biology and Chemistry in the Class IX annual examinations in such a manner that those who have not studied Book-II of both the subjects may not face any difficulty in solving the required number of questions,” he added.

Though most private schools had taught the Book-II of both the subjects to their Class IX students for the book was available in the market, students of government schools could not study it. The Sindh education department’s wing that was responsible to distribute textbooks free of cost among students of government schools failed to provide Book-II of Biology and Chemistry to government schools of the city during the current academic year.

Source: Dawn Monday, 22 Feb, 2010

Errors in KU semester mark-sheets irk students

KARACHI (PPI) – Errors and omissions in mark-sheets of many semester students of various departments of Karachi University have become a source of irritation for students and wakeup call for concerned authorities to rectify the system at earliest.

Many students studying in different departments of Karachi University witnessed inaccuracies in their recently issued semester mark-sheet, commonly known as ‘Performa’. Several sorts of mistakes were observed in these mark-sheets including false entry of subject marks, year of semester, and subsidiary subjects. In some cases candidates were mentioned fail or absent despite securing passing marks.
To make the matter further complicated the process of rectifying these mistakes is lengthy and cumbersome. Affected students complain that the procedure to get their Performa corrected is really annoying as they had to pay several visits to Semester Examination Cell (SEC), where they generally receive cold and uncooperative response.

Maimuna Ejaz, morning student at the Department of Mass Communication was grieved after getting her Performa. She said that she actually had got 80 marks in subsidiary subject Sociology, as it was also apparent in the marks list provided by her teacher; however, the Performa issued to her showed she secured just 54 marks in the same subject. Another student of the said department told that he had got back his Performa after entire processing from SEC with some errors still persisting. Interestingly one of the BS evening batch at aforementioned department has observed an unusual case as some 25 students amidst a total strength of 42 students in the class were declared ‘absent’ in their subsidiary subject International Relation. The affected students complained the problem was yet to be resolved.

Another common mistake was seen that the subsidiary subject mentioned on the Performa was different from what the students had been studying. Students at Chemistry Department and Food and Science Department said that they had not even issued a Performa since passage of two years.

It was learnt that these cases are not restricted to just few candidates, instead a large number of students in various departments have faced same dilemma and majority of them still await to get their Performa corrected. Some students have received what they called ‘tampered’ Performa as their marks, subjects and dates were manually corrected with green marking. “Similar marking can also be done by any person using a green pointer,” they observed.

Source: The Nation February 22, 2010

Matric exams Islamiat paper leaked out in wee hours

KARACHI: The alleged leaking of the matriculation examination paper of Islamiat has put a question mark on the credibility of the Board of Secondary Education (BSEK). The board seems to have failed in safeguarding the rights of hard working students. The Islamiat exam of class X Science Group was leaked in the wee hours of Tuesday via a cell phone. “The paper was apparently leaked by using the SMS service and was sent to candidates who had paid a certain amount,” sources in the BSEK revealed. A cell phone message that was used for disseminate the questionnaire was obtained by Daily Times and reads as follows:

‘The Islamiat Paper For Class (X) Board of Secondary Education Confirmed Paper B Surah Ehzab Ayat 22-24, Surah Mumtihina Ayat 7-9 Hadees 4 and 19, Quran ka taruf, fazeelat taharat ki ahmiat, fawaid ayat aur hadees ki nazar mein, sabr ki ahmiat aur shukar k fawaid, aili zindagi ki ahmiat and aulad k huqooq (abhi yeh 75 percent confirm hai). Yeh paper apne frndz ko frwrd krdo.’

A senior teacher at a government school, on the condition of anonymity said that conditions like these mentally disturb students. “There is no difference between a student who studies throughout the year and one who spends a few thousand rupees to get the paper illegally,” he said while alleging that a very influential group with the BSEK officials is involved in the assumed leaking of the papers.

When Daily Times contacted BSEK Controller of Examination Prof Javed Iftikhar to get his version over the alleged leaking of the paper, his cell phone was switched off. The calls to BSEK Secretary Asif Pasha Siddiqi’s phone were also unanswered.

Power outages continue in exam centres: Meanwhile, continued power breakdowns continued to irk the candidates during the exams. Despite the efforts made by the BSEK officials, Karachi Electric Supply Company failed to respond in a positive manner with leaving the students at the receiving end.

Source: Daily Times

SSC Supplementary exam from 12th

Karachi: The Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) on Friday announced that Secondary School Certificate (SSC) left-over supplementary practical examination 2007 (Science and General Group) of Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Computer Studies will start from December 12, 2007. According to the programme, the practical of Physics will be held on December 12, Chemistry on December 13 and Biology/Computer Studies on December 15, 2007. The left over candidates have been asked to appear in the practical examinations at the Government Boys Secondary School Number 1, Petrol Pump, Nazimabad along with their admit cards.

Source: The News

Pattern of examinations 2008 will be same as 2007

Karachi: All examinations for the year 2008 in the boards of the province will be conducted in accordance with the old pattern of examinations 2007. This was announced in a statement of the Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) on Saturday. It said that a decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the Committee of Chairmen of Sindh Boards held on December 1. The meeting was presided over by Chairman of the BSEK, Brig Shafiullah Qureshi.

An official of the BSEK maintained that the decision was taken due to what he termed the non-availability of some of the textbooks as the combined examinations of 9th and 10th class will be conducted from April 15, 2008. He said that the theory paper will be of 75 marks and that of practical 25 marks. The chemistry, biology and computer examinations will be from book 1 and there will be no change as far as the examination of English and Sindhi is concerned.

Meanwhile, the Muttehida Majlis-e-Amal’s (MMA) ex-MPAs have expressed grave concern over the mismanagement in the examinations department of the Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK), and have demanded notice of this situation by the relevant authorities.

In a statement issued here, they alleged that there is serious negligence in the board, adding that more than 60 illegal recruitment have been made in the board, which is the murder of merit. They said grades are being changed on a payment of Rs5,000 and fake certificates are being issued even to failed candidates. The MMA leaders termed the practice as a shameful act and demanded that action be taken against those involved in malpractice.

Source: The News Sunday December 02 2007