Mismanagement mars FBISE practical exam

Islamabad: Confusion, chaos and mismanagement marred the annual practical examinations 2022 for FA and FSc courses here.

Mismanagement was witnessed after it emerged that the question papers will be set by the practical examiners on the spot. Questions were later written on whiteboards to waste the time of candidates.

Earlier, the question papers were printed and sent by the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE) to the examination centres.

In many centres, external examiners didn't turn up, so the board officials asked the relevant principals to conduct the exams with the help of their respective teachers.

There were also reports about the practical examination starting late at several centres due to the unavailability of examiners.

Students complained about long delays as well as power outages at their respective examination centres.

Ayesha, a Pre-Medical student, lamented the maladministration of FBISE authorities and said, “It was chaos. We the candidates were left helpless at the centre, we had to go round and round the rambling college building. The exam was scheduled for 8 AM, but it did not start after several hours. There was no one to guide us in the labs. Later, an inexperienced teacher of the college was directed by the college authorities to conduct the exam. Why did FBISE not appoint a practical examiner for this centre? FBISE is playing with our future.”

Candidate Ibrar of the General science group said the practical exam was mismanaged as the examiner wrote the question paper on the subject statistics on the whiteboard of a classroom and his writing was illegible.

"Many of us [candidates] could not follow the questions," he said.

The principal of a women's college said examinations should be conducted in an organised manner but unfortunately, that didn't happen.

She said for students, the practical exam turned out to be an endurance test and that they looked extremely demoralised during the exam.

A teacher said on condition of anonymity that practical examiners had to spend a whole long day holding exams from 8am to 5pm and thereafter, they had to stay put for three hours to assess answer scripts to send results to FBISE online.

He also complained the remuneration for conducting practical exams set by FBISE is as low as Rs2200, so most teachers avoided the duty.

The teacher also complained that for the assessment of theory papers, many junior teachers were appointed as head examiners demoralising senior ones.

"This out-of-merit policy also discouraged senior teachers who were earlier interested in board assignments," he said.