To secure admission to any Pakistani university, it is mandatory for the candidates to have at least 45 per cent marks in their Intermediate exams. Those who secure less than 45 and more than 33 per cent marks are considered passed but they cannot pursue university education.
“Such students are considered literate and they generally acquire positions of clerks and non-teaching staffers in offices, but due to the weak academic record, they can’t pursue higher education,” said Sindh Board Committee of Chairmen (SBCC) Chairman Prof Dr Saeeduddin, who is also the chairman of the Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK).
In his recent talk to The News, he said the Intermediate boards has fixed 33 per cent as the passing percentage in all the subjects of matriculation and Intermediate. Those who hardly pass matriculation with minimum marks somehow get enrolled in colleges or higher secondary schools, but a majority of the pupils who pass Intermediate with nearly minimum marks don’t meet the admission requirement of varsities and they have to stop their education, he added.
For the Intermediate students who pass with less than 45 per cent marks, Prof Saeeduddin said that a positive side for them is that they are considered Intermediate pass and a literate person of society. However, he added that the negative side for such students is that they are not allowed to pursue higher education and in that sense, their 12-year education goes waste.
He explained that until recently, the BIEK had been offering one chance for improvement of grades to those who had passed their Intermediate exams with less marks, however, after one chance, those students were not given any other opportunity to have their marks increased.
To address this issue, he said the BIEK had recently announced giving four chances of improvement to the Intermediate students. Prof Saeeduddin was, however, of the view that the minimum passing marks of Intermediate should be the same at which the universities offered admissions.
“In my opinion, the passing percentage should be 45 per cent. In this way, the students would work hard to pass their exams and they would also be able to secure admissions to universities,” he said, adding that he would table this proposal at an SBCC meeting.
Giving a historical perspective, he said the minimum 33 per cent passing marks were introduced by the British in 1800s. When they established their educational system in the Sub-Continent, they fixed 65 per cent marks as the minimum passing marks for the British and just 33 per cent passing marks for the Indian locals as the British believed that Indians were half as intelligent as them.
When asked if any legislation was required to alter the minimum passing marks, he said there was no need to bring the matter to the assembly and the steering committee of the education department could decide about it itself.
Speaking about the last Intermediate examinations, in which none of the students was failed due to the policy during the Covid-19 pandemic, the BIEK chairman said that 40 per cent of students who cleared the last Intermediate examinations had secured less than 45 per cent marks.
Explaining the reason behind the unsatisfactory performance of students, the chairman said that the entire academic year lasted only six to seven months. He explained that as teachers find it impossible to teach the entire course in six months, they only teach selected parts of the course but the board officials prepare exam papers that cover the whole subject. Sometimes, examiners make questions from those lessons which teachers don’t teach at schools and colleges, Prof Saeeduddin said, adding that it is why many students remark that their exam paper was out of syllabus.
He was of the view that the short duration of the academic year was due to late admissions in colleges. To address this issue, he said one of the solutions could be granting admissions to the Intermediate classes on the basis of the results of the ninth grade.
He added that biannual examinations could also be held to ensure better results. If an academic year spans 11 to 12 months, we can conduct biannual exams after six months. Such biannual exams could be held for half of the subjects and the aspirants would attempt the exams of the remaining subjects after next six months. In this way, he said, the students would face less burden of studies and could prepare better for their examinations.
