Inter exam results controversy put on the backburner

The Government of Sindh has put the issue of low grades of thousands of intermediate students in Karachi on the backburner.

After protests by students and voices raised by the opposition members in the Sindh Assembly on this issue, a notification was issued to form an investigative committee headed by Sindh Education Minister Syed Sardar Shah, comprising members of the assembly, in the last week of January.

Within a few days, a fact-finding committee was formed with NED University Vice Chancellor Dr Sarosh Lodhi as convener. The committee included the Director of Charter Inspection Committee, Noman Ahsan, and NED’s Controller of Examinations as members. The committee submitted its report to the Sindh Education Minister on February 12, but no action has been taken on it so far.

In the meantime, Dr Lodhi has retired from service and will leave the seat on March 23.

Meanwhile, 27,700 students have submitted their scrutiny forms and are waiting for the committee’s report to be implemented. These students are due to take their annual exams starting April 28, but they are still unaware of which papers they will have to retake.

It is worth noting that this year’s results have been disappointing, with a passing rate of 36 per cent in pre-medical and 29 per cent in pre-engineering, which is 11 per cent and 14 per cent lower than previous years, respectively. has obtained a copy of the fact-finding committee’s report, which reveals some shocking disclosures.

This is the first time that the committee has expanded its scope to include the results of other educational boards in Sindh, in addition to the Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK). The report also discusses the admission policy for Intermediate first-year students in colleges and the curriculum of the Sindh Textbook Board and Curriculum Wing.

The committee has criticised the results of other boards in Sindh, including Larkana, Sukkur, Hyderabad, and Mirpurkhas, and questioned why there are significant differences in results despite having the same curriculum, scheme of studies, paper pattern, and controlling authority. The report notes that the BIEK’s results are lower than others, with a passing rate of 35 per cent in medical and 29 per cent in engineering, whereas in the past 10 years, the passing rates have ranged from 44 per cent to 49 per cent.

The committee has obtained the results of other educational boards from the Department of Universities and Boards, which are significantly higher than those of BIEK. Therefore, the committee recommends that the results of these boards should also be scrutinised.