Education board chiefs concerned over new exam policy

KARACHI: The Inter Board Committee of Chairmen has  expressed reservations over a policy decision taken by education ministers to take exams of only elective subjects, sources told Geo News.

The reservations were shared during a meeting of the IBCC, headed by Dr Shaukat Hayat, in which preparations for the upcoming exams in Karachi were discussed.

Sources said that IBCC members questioned the logic behind the new policy, asking how they would determine the grades of students on the basis of two elective subjects in matriculation.

“Bright students who got good marks in compulsory subjects will suffer from this formula,” sources quoted them as saying.

All the provinces will now decide a formula in their board meetings. The Sindh education board meeting is likely to be held in the next two days.

IPEMC finalises exam schedule

On Wednesday, Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mehmood said the syllabus of matriculation and intermediate level has been reduced in order to facilitate the students by minimizing their educational loss due to closures of schools amid  the COVID-19 pandemic.

Addressing a press conference after holding an Inter-Provincial Education Ministers Conference (IPEMC) at the Higher Education Commission, he had said the exams of 9th and 10th classes would be taken in only four elective subjects.

Similarly, Mahmood said, exams for classes 11 and 12 will also be held in only elective subjects and the exam of remaining subjects will not be held.

The exams will start after July 10, he had added.

He went on to say that the exams for 10th and 12th classes would be held first and then the exams for 9th and 11th classes.

It was also decided to keep an interval between each paper.