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Answer-sheets, marks on sale at Intermediate board Karachi
Karachi, July 21, 2008: In a practice that has put the very credibility of the Board of
Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK) at stake, a chain of employees, including
higher officials of the board, have not only been selling marks to candidates,
but actually retailing already-submitted examination booklets that are yet to be
marked.
During a month long investigation, it was reliably learnt,
and thereinafter confirmed, that candidates can purchase their already-submitted
examination copies from the BIEK, take the booklet home, and then add to or
rewrite their paper to heart's content. The copy can then be submitted back to
the board for marking. This opportunity is being availed by thousands of
candidates vying to either score higher to get admission into top colleges or
those wanting to merely pass their examinations.
Following a hint about
the ongoing corruption, it was followed up with a month long investigation to
delve into the operational structure of this corruption and expose the culprits
behind the act.
During the course of the investigation, it was revealed
that a candidate can buy an examination's answer booklet from particular
employees of the board or their agents for at least Rs10,000 (per exam), if not
more than that, and keep it for at least 24 hours.
However, those buying
answer-booklets through agents and other sources are paying Rs20,000 or more.
The most expensive answer-sheets are of the science group followed by commerce,
while copies of the arts group go for the lowest.
If one is not satisfied
with this option, there are plenty of other choices. The more a candidate pays,
the better the opportunities they can avail. For example, if one wants a totally
blank copy to rewrite the entire paper, it costs some Rs4,000 to Rs5,000 in
addition to the Rs10,000 price of the original copy.
In the case of
purchasing a blank copy, the candidate is issued the original copy that he or
she had submitted to the invigilator in examination hall and a blank copy
without any serial number. Obviously, the blank copy has no signature of
invigilator nor does it have the stamp of examination centre.
Nonetheless, the candidate rewrites his paper, submits the fresh answer
sheet, now completely filled in, to the board. The officials involved in this
practice then add the serial number (as on the original copy) on the new sheet,
and also take the responsibility of putting the examination centre's stamp and
the invigilator's signature. This is how a blank answer-sheet is made into an
original one while the original copy, submitted during the time of examination,
can be disposed of by the candidate.
To make sure there can be no denials
by the corrupt officials of the board later, we went through the process
undercover and purchased an answer-sheet of an examination of the Arts Group
against a payment of Rs20,000. The images are reproduced as evidence. This
practice, it must be stressed, is happening in all sections - Science, Arts and
Commerce, both part 1 and part 2, and private and regular exams. People in this
chain have earned millions of rupees in this session alone.
The BIEK is
able to indulge in this practice because once the invigilators collect the
answer-sheets from students after the exam, they are sent to the board office.
The answer-sheets are kept within the section they belong to and from there the
dealing starts.
For the next three or four days, answer-sheets are sold
to the candidates and then recollected by the board. Afterwards, a codifier
encodes these answer-sheets and the right side of the front page, which displays
things like serial number and examination centre, is torn and a code number is
given to the copy which is sent to checkers.
The retailing of already
submitted answer-sheets is not the only form of revenue for this chain. High-ups
are also providing students with the opportunity to simply buy marks in
particular subjects directly. The cost of this option is, obviously higher. For
example, if one wants 90 out of 100 in mathematics, he can pay Rs25,000 to get
it.
During the investigation it was also disclosed that students who
have missed out on this opportunity can purchase marks via submitting a
'scrutiny form' once the result is announced. This option can be utilised to
secure positions that the candidate may have missed out on narrowly.
This malpractice continues unchecked, there is a very high probability
that incompetent and financially sound students will get good percentage and
secure their seats in top engineering and medical colleges. If this happens, it
will deprive a large number of deserving and talented students from getting
admissions in the colleges of their choice.
Most of these copies have
been bought by sons of government officials, a source in the BIEK said, adding
that, in some cases, a single candidate has bought the answer-sheets for all the
examinations he or she has appeared in.
Sources also revealed that a
large number of copies that were sold were bought by sons and relatives of
government officials and other influential persons. Giving an example, the
source said that, in one case, the son of a government employee paid more than
Rs0.1 million and bought the answer-sheets of all five subjects he appeared
in.
A source also revealed that at least 500 copies were being sold per
day during the science group examinations this year.
The
process Karachi
During the investigation, a well-informed source,
who pleaded anonymity, said that the entire payment is collected by one
'Asif,' a member of BIEK employees union. "Asif hands over the payment to Imran
Chishti, Deputy Secretary, BIEK," the source said, adding, "Chishti is the front
man of Chairman BIEK, Anwar Ahmed Zai." The source further said that Chishti
then distributes the payment according to the following formula:
•
Rs5,000 per copy goes to BIEK Chairman
• Rs2,000 per copy goes to section
(E.g., pre-engineering, pre- medical, commerce etc) to which the copy belongs
and is equally distributed among staff members involved
• Rs1,000 per
copy goes to the head of that section
• Rs2,000 per copy goes to the
employees union
Asif, an Upper Division Clerk (UDC) and a member of
employees union of BIEK, who plays an important role in collecting the money
from candidates, has been given a government vehicle with number plate GL 7262
even though he is not entitled to such a facility.
It's not
possible: Chairman BIEK Karachi
When contacted, Chairman BIEK
rubbished the allegations of corruption saying: "There is absolutely no
possibility of that since we have a centralised assessment system which is being
supervised by the controller examination."
Asked if someone from the
board is involved in selling out copies to the candidates, Zai said, "The copies
are sealed and sent to the two centres for centralised assessment and in between
that no one opens the seal."
Asked if they have some kind of vigilance
team or committee to monitor any irregularities, he said, "There is no need of a
team since the kind of mechanism we have is very organised."
He
emphasised, repeatedly, that there was no such process taking place, and that
the notion that answer-sheets are being sold is nothing but a rumour. The News
Your Comments
"CAN YOU INFORM ME ABOUT 1ST YEAR COMMERCE (REGULAR)ANY NEWS ABOUT IT."
Name: YASEEN
Email: COOL.MINDCAP2@HOTMAIL.COM
City, Country: KARACHI,PAKISTAN
"I couldnot have given one of my paper of 2nd year pre madical.what can i do now?give me information about reexams "
Name: shumaila
Email: belleoftheball_me@hotmail.com
City, Country: KARACHI,PAKISTAN
"When will marksheet of inter commerce-II karachi 2009 show on net? pleae tell any one. "
Name: Abeer khan
Email: Abeer_khan50@yahoo.com
City, Country: KARACHI,PAKISTAN
"CAN U INFORM ME ANYTHING ABOUT THIS YEAR INTER PART 1 COMPUTER-SCIENCE AND PSYCHOLOGY."
Name: muneeba
Email: sweet_sparrow91@yahoo.com
City, Country: karachi
"this investigation report is totally wrong"
Name: rafay
Email: mafia_rafay@hotmail.com
City, Country: karachi,pakistan
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