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Educational boards agree to award grace marks
KARACHI, July 2(Dawn): All the educational boards of the province have
unanimously proposed to award two per cent grace marks to all the candidates who
have taken this year's examinations. A summary to this effect is expected to be
sent to the Sindh governor on Monday (today), learnt reliably on
Sunday.
Sources said a meeting of the Sindh Boards' Committee held in
Larkana on Saturday, in which the proposal improvised by the Sindh governor to
award two per cent grace marks to the candidates of the secondary, higher
secondary technical school examinations being held this year, was discussed at
length.
Sources said the chairmen of the education boards of Karachi,
Hyderabad, Larkana, Sukkur and Mirpurkhas and the Sindh Technical Education
Board, discussed the situation that arose in the wake of chronic load-shedding
in Karachi, which made it impossible for students to prepare for the
examinations with full concentration.
"The officials agreed that the
power failures of ten to 12 hours had caused a negative impact on the
performance and standard of the candidates, which demanded some consolation from
the official quarters," said a source.
The sources said the thunderstorms
and heavy rains across Sindh also came under discussion and all the chairmen of
the boards agreed that awarding of the grace marks would not affect the overall
standard and quality of education.
"Some participants argued that such a
measure is being taken for the first time in the history of Sindh and whether it
would affect the overall quality of our education," said a
source.
However, during the long debates all the participants agreed that
the candidates could not get enough time due to prolonged power failures and
rain devastation, which had affected their concentration while preparing for the
examinations.
Sources said the chairmen also decided that the grace marks
would be given to all the candidates irrespective of their percentage and
regardless of the fact whether they had passed the examinations or not. In this
manner, officials said, those who could not pass due to having marks two per
cent below the pass percentage could benefit.
Besides, the grace marks
would be highlighted separately in the registers so that the actual worth of a
candidate could be gauged, it was learnt.
"This privilege is just for
this year's examination," said a source dispelling the reports that candidates
would get two per cent of all the exams covering the two years of SSC or
HSC.
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