Examination Centres From More Than 400 To Just 30-40

Karachi, April 01: The Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) is actively considering a proposal to reduce the number of examination centres from more than 400 to just 30-40 from the next academic year.


This was stated by BSEK Chairman Syed Anzar Hussain Zaidi at a press conference held on Wednesday at the board's conference room. Secretary Hoor Mazhar and Controller of Examinations Kalim Asghar Kirmani of the board were also present.

Mr Zaidi said the proposal came under consideration on the directives of Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad.

Another proposal, the BSEK chairman said, was to prepare the question papers for Class IX and X annual examinations with extreme confidentiality through the maximum use of computer technology. "Sending the papers to the required examination centres through e-mail is also under study," he added.

Expressing his support to the governor's proposal on drastically reducing the number of the exam centres, Mr Zaidi argued that it would be easy for the board to manage the affairs of the examinations more effectively if there were up to 40 instead of 400 examination centres in the metropolis. There would be three or four major centres to be set up in each of the total 18 towns of the city, he said.

About the use of computers in preparing and distributing question papers, he said that Sindh Minister for Information Technology Raza Haroon had offered his department's cooperation in this regard, and said this would not only help maintain confidentiality but would also prove a prompt and time-saving exercise against the present practice of manual setting and distribution.

Mr Zaidi said that no case of cheating in the ongoing examinations had been reported to the board from any centre yet. However, he appeared not satisfied with the idea that the menace had been wiped out. "I will be convening a meeting in a day or two to discuss the issue," he said.

In order to discourage the trend, he said, the superintendents of three centres, Delhi School (Karimabad), Govt Boys Secondary School (Gulshan-i-Iqbal) and Govt Boys Secondary School (Nazimabad No 2), had been replaced with some other officials after receipt of complaints from these centres. Besides, he added, the board's research director heading the chairman's vigilance committee had also been replaced with the deputy-secretary, Khalid Ahsan.

He said that the inquiry report on delaying the SSC exams by two days would be submitted to the competent authority within the next three days. However, the committee inquiring into the paper leak that resulted in postponement of March 27 papers was expected to finalise its report soon after the completion of the ongoing SSC exams. Dawn