Matric board office seeks imposition of Section 144 at examination centres

Finalising arrangements for the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) Annual Examination 2021 (matriculation exams), the Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) has requested the district administration to enforce the Section 144 at the examination centres.

The matric board has set up set around 438 examination centers across the city for the examinations that will start on July 5. For the convenience of students, the list of centres has been released on the board's website.

According to a statement issued, BSEK Chairman Syed Sharaf Ali Shah has directed the invigilators and examiners to strictly enforce the Covid-19 standard operating procedures during the exam hours. He has also directed that all instructions regarding SOPs should be displayed outside the examination centres.

The centre superintendents and controlling officers have also been instructed to get themselves vaccinated. According to the BSEK chairman, a total of 348,249 students would attempt the ninth and matric exams in the science and general groups. Of the 438 examination centres, 185 have been set up in government schools and 253 in private schools. 201 centres are for female students and 237 for male students.

Among the total examination centres, 201 centers have been set up for female students and 237 for male students. A reporting cell has been set up in the board office to monitor the examinations.

Special teams of the board will take steps to prevent the copy culture. On the request of the BSEK Chairman, the district administration has issued letters to the law enforcement agencies to enforce section 144 on all the examination centres, under which external interference would be prohibited at these centres. He has also warned the students not to bring mobile phones to the exam centres or else their mobile phones will be confiscated.

The BSEK has made a written request to the K-Electric for not carrying out load-shedding during the examination hours so that the children could take the examinations conveniently. Although the matriculation examinations are around the corner, hundreds of students have registered complaints with the Directorate of Inspection and Registration of Private Institutions Sindh (Dirpis), stating that some private schools have refused to issue their admit cards for the SSC exams.

To make sure participation of the candidates, the BSEK has already handed over admit cards to the representatives of the private schools. However, some of the private schools are not willing to issue admit cards to the students on the grounds that a majority of the students have not paid their tuition fees.

However, DIRPIS Director Mansoob Hussain Siddiqui has said in a statement that if private schools failed to distribute admit cards, they would face strict action. “No excuse would be acceptable. The owners of private schools should immediately issue admit cards to the students so that they can appear in the annual examinations.”

He said parents whose children have not received their admit cards should register complaints with DIRPIS. “We will make sure their complaints are addressed. No one has the right to waste the time of the students as they have already suffered educational disruption during the lockdown.”

Directing all the regional directors, the DIRPIS director stated that private schools could not waste the time of the students for any reason. “The regional directors have to make sure that all the students who would be appearing in the annual exams have received their admit cards.”