Drastic cut in number of SSC exam centres
Examination centres from more than 400 to just 30-40
Karachi, April 01: The Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) is
actively considering a proposal to reduce the number of examination
centres from more than 400 to just 30-40 from the next academic year. This was stated by BSEK Chairman Syed Anzar Hussain Zaidi at a press
conference held on Wednesday at the board's conference room. Secretary
Hoor Mazhar and Controller of Examinations Kalim Asghar Kirmani of the
board were also present. Mr Zaidi said the proposal came under consideration on the directives of Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad. Another proposal, the BSEK chairman said, was to prepare the question
papers for Class IX and X annual examinations with extreme
confidentiality through the maximum use of computer technology.
"Sending the papers to the required examination centres through e-mail
is also under study," he added. Expressing his support to the
governor's proposal on drastically reducing the number of the exam
centres, Mr Zaidi argued that it would be easy for the board to manage
the affairs of the examinations more effectively if there were up to 40
instead of 400 examination centres in the metropolis. There would be
three or four major centres to be set up in each of the total 18 towns
of the city, he said. About the use of computers in preparing
and distributing question papers, he said that Sindh Minister for
Information Technology Raza Haroon had offered his department's
cooperation in this regard, and said this would not only help maintain
confidentiality but would also prove a prompt and time-saving exercise
against the present practice of manual setting and distribution. Mr Zaidi said that no case of cheating in the ongoing examinations had
been reported to the board from any centre yet. However, he appeared
not satisfied with the idea that the menace had been wiped out. "I will
be convening a meeting in a day or two to discuss the issue," he said. In order to discourage the trend, he said, the superintendents of three
centres, Delhi School (Karimabad), Govt Boys Secondary School
(Gulshan-i-Iqbal) and Govt Boys Secondary School (Nazimabad No 2), had
been replaced with some other officials after receipt of complaints
from these centres. Besides, he added, the board's research director
heading the chairman's vigilance committee had also been replaced with
the deputy-secretary, Khalid Ahsan. He said that the inquiry
report on delaying the SSC exams by two days would be submitted to the
competent authority within the next three days. However, the committee
inquiring into the paper leak that resulted in postponement of March 27
papers was expected to finalise its report soon after the completion of
the ongoing SSC exams. Dawn
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BSEK suspends eight invigilators
Karachi: Eight officials posted for vigilance and invigilation
duties by the Board of Secondary Education, Karachi (BSEK) were
suspended from duty on Wednesday. The suspension of six
officials was announced by BSEK Chairman Anzar Hussain Zaidi during a
press conference at the Board's office. The identities of those
suspended remained mired in confusion, as the BSEK chairman did not
provide all details at the press conference. Later, Controller
Examinations Kaleem Asghar Kirmani clarified that a total
of eight officials were suspended on Wednesday, while another two were
removed from invigilation duty a couple of days ago. The BSEK
chairman said that centre superintendents failed to conduct
examinations in a manner that was expected of them, while both the
Board and the Governor House vigilance team received complaints about
their performance. "The vigilance teams did not perform as was expected
of them. Three centre superintendents and three members of the
vigilance teams have been removed with immediate effect," he said. Zaidi
said that centre superintendents are responsible for coping and
checking malpractices and use of unfair means at examination centres,
adding that the members of vigilance teams also failed to play their
due role. The centre superintendents suspended from
invigilation duty include Akbar Masood Khan of Government Boys
Secondary School, Gulshan-e-Iqbal Block-6, Niazuddin Meo of Delhi
Government Boys Secondary School, and Ms Rizwana, the headmistress of
University Campus Those suspended from Government Boys Secondary
School, Gulshan-e-Iqbal include Faheem (a junior clerk), Abdul Majeed,
and Shoaib Ahmed. Mohammed Ismail, a vigilance officer from ADM School
in Baldia, was also suspended from duty, while Ayesha and Nida Fatima
of the University Campus were also suspended. Kirmani said that two men from the Delhi Government Boys Secondary School,
Mohammad Yaseen and Abdul Kareem Solangi, were also suspended two days
ago. He said that Meo was placed for vigilance duty by the BSEK, but he
was also serving as a centre superintendent. The controller
examinations stressed that these individuals have been suspended from
vigilance and invigilation duties, not from their jobs. Meanwhile,
BSEK Chairman Zaidi called on the local media to discuss and highlight
the issues that have occurred during the ongoing Secondary School
Certificate (SSC) annual examination. He said that the Board has taken
some measures to handle the situation, but the BSEK would welcome
recommendations from the media and other serious stake holders. The
BSEK chairman said that some people were spreading rumours among
students and their parents. He asserted that the Board has also warned
several centre superintendents to improve the situation at examination
centres; otherwise the Board would sideline them. Zaidi said
that the Sindh governor has recommended to the Board that the number of
examination centres be minimised. "There is a possibility that places
such as EXPO Centre and National Stadium Karachi would be utilised as
examination centres in future," he said, adding that such places can
host thousands of students at a time and it would be easy to monitor
the situation, as opposed to keeping an eye on examination centres
located in remote areas. Further, the BSEK chairman said, the IT
minister has also hinted at providing modern technology to solve the
issue of paper leaks. The Board would consider this proposal to settle
the matter, he added. During the press conference, media
personnel told the BSEK chairman that no statistics of unfair mean
cases have been made available by the Board. Zaidi then directed all
centre superintendents to submit their reports on regular basis. He
said that holding a science paper in the second shift is not an issue,
claiming that students of second shifts get more time to prepare.
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Another 16 universities for Sindh on the anvil
Karachi: As many as 16 new private sector universities in Sindh alone are in the
pipeline, charters for whom are in the process of revalidation at the
Provincial Education Department, well placed sources in the department
informed on Monday. Bills of these 16 universities were introduced and passed by the last legislative Sindh Assembly during its tenure. However,
later due to a technical flaw of bypassing the Education Department
before introducing the bills in the provincial assembly, these cases
were not refereed to the Sindh governor for endorsement, according to
the Additional Secretary, Education, Sindh (Academics), Professor Rais
Alvi. The Additional Secretary disclosed that at the moment
charters of these 16 private sector universities were in the process of
re-validation at the Education Department, following which these cases
would be refereed to the governor after an inspection committee submits
the report to the governor. The governor has constituted a
committee to evaluate these private sector universities by carrying out
physical and financial inspection. The committee is headed by
Additional Secretary Rais Alvi and comprises Director Colleges Iftikhar
Hussain Zaidi and Secretary Affiliation Committee University of Karachi
Dr Shahid Hussain Zaidi. Some of the 16 private universities include Coastal University Thatta, University of East Hyderabad, Petroman University etc.
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FUUAST: LB exam rescheduled
The controller of examinations of Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology (FUUAST) has
announced that the paper of LB (first year), previously scheduled on
April 3 would now be held on 13 April 2010. There would be no change in
the timing and examination center. The news
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'Teachers' problems to be solved'
Karachi: Senior Sindh Education Minister Pir Mazharul Haq said
Wednesday that problems confronted by the teachers in the province
would be solved. The minister said various demands of teachers have
been met, while the decision on the remaining ones would be taken at a
meeting to be held on April 7. He said the Sindh government has
withdrawn its appeal filed in the Supreme Court against the restoration
of teacher unions. He said promises made with teachers before the
elections had been fulfilled including restoration of teacher unions.
Haq said he was shocked over the baton-charge on teachers as he held
them in high esteem. However, he warned teachers that if they boycotted
classes, they would be replaced. ppi
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SPLA condemns police action
Hyderabad: The Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association
taking serious notice of police attack on their colleagues in Karachi
on Tuesday and their subsequent arrest, took out a protest
demonstration here on Wednesday. Quite a good number of
college teachers took out a rally from the DPO Chowk and after marching
on main thoroughfares reached the press club. The SPLA
leaders complained to journalists that this so-called democratic
government had broken the record of Arbab-led government in Sindh. They said that the teachers had gone to present their memorandum to
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah but police beat them up and
kept many of them in wrongful confinement for eight hours. Teachers of
Sindh should be given time scale allowance and promotions on the
pattern of Balochistan they said and demanded issuance of notification
in regard to their accepted demands and filling of 3,600 vacant posts
of lecturers through the Sindh Public Service Commission.
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School affiliated with SU upgraded
Hyderabad: A school affiliated with the University of Sindh
has been upgraded to higher secondary school level with directives to
the management to begin classes from the new academic session. Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sindh Prof Dr Nazir A. Mughal
announced this on Wednesday during award distribution ceremony at Syed
Pannah Ali Shah Model School, Jamshoro and promised of providing more
facilities to students. He also announced of the formation of Teachers,
Parents Association as the involvement of guardians goes a long way in
enhancing the educational skills among their wards. He
announced Rs10,000 as seed money for the association with an assurance
of getting matching amount from the university and the audience also
pooled in Rs200,000. He emphasised on the importance of teachers and parents roles in grooming the personality of their children.
The VC in response to Principal's request for promotion of teachers
said that the process had already been initiated and their cases would
be put before the Selection Board which would be meeting soon.
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Teachers seek raise in salary
Sukkur: Scores of primary school teachers on the call of the
Primary Teachers Association (PTA) took out a procession in Mirpur
Mathelo on Wednesday, demanding raise in their salary and allowances. The teachers, carrying placards and banners and shouting slogans took
to the streets from Main Primary School and, after marching on main
roads of the town, reached Bhitai Chowk where they held a
demonstration. Talking to journalists, PTA president Mohammad
Rafiq Jarwar said that the Sindh government was not ready to revise the
salary of primary teachers who were getting higher salary and
allowances in other provinces. He said that job quota for the
children of retired and deceased school teachers had been cancelled and
demanded its restoration.
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College needs funds for fixtures
Okara: Government Postgraduate College students and teachers
have been waiting for funds to purchase furniture and fixtures for a
newly-constructed academic block for the past five years. Also,
Rs500,000 sanctioned for the library are lying with the district
accounts office and not being released to the college administration. Principal Prof Iqrar Ali Rao said that the library was completed
with a Rs6 million grant got approved by former defence minister, Rao
Sikandar Iqbal. Later, Rs500,000 were sanctioned to purchase furniture,
computers and cupboards but the same could not be released. The principal said that after long correspondence, he brought the
matter into the notice of Commissioner Tariq Mehmmod Khan, who took
immediate steps and the sanctioned amount was transferred to the
district accounts office for onward release to the college. However,
this did not happen and the amount had been lying with the accounts
office for the past three months owing to the indifference of officials
concerned. Also, the district government did not provide
revenue cost grant to purchase furniture and fixtures for the new
academic block consisting of 16 classrooms, eight science laboratories
and the administration block completed five years ago. Owing to this
indifference of the authorities concerned, the newly-constructed
building was still lying vacant The principal said that 70-year-old academic block building also needed repairs and renovation. Locals have demanded of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Commissioner
Tariq Mehmood Khan, DCO Ali Jan Khan and parliamentarians to take
notice of the situation and get the requisite funds released. Dawn
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