Class X exam cheating cases | Inter exams from April 28

53 cases of cheating in exams detected
Karachi, March 31: Vigilance teams of the Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) on Monday detected 53 cases of unfair means being used by candidates appearing in the Secondary School Certificate-II (Class X) general group annual examinations-2009.

Complaints of cheating at the exam centres continued to pour in the newspaper offices from a number of callers. Sources in the BSEK conceded that its vigilance teams had been facing difficulties in discharging their duties effectively owing to the highhandedness of certain "pressure groups" who were meddling in the affairs of the board and making attempts to influence the staff posted at the centres.

They said that the vigilance teams were facing such problems mostly at the centres set up in the government schools of Landhi, Korangi, Orangi, Lyari, New Karachi, Pak Colony, Baldia and Lines Area.

Load-shedding

Meanwhile, power outages continued to disturb candidates and trouble staff at various examination centres on Monday. Thousands of candidates were seen perturbed over the absence of electricity most of the time during the paper amid hot and humid weather conditions.

Several of them said they could not perform well in their papers and feared poor results.

A BSEK official, commenting on the issue, said that the board had repeatedly requested the Karachi Electricity Supply Company (KESC) to exempt examination centers from load-shedding but the requests had remained unheeded so far.

"The KESC seems not ready to even change the timings of the load-shedding to ensure an uninterrupted power supply from 9am to 12 noon until the examinations are over," he lamented.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the BSEK said that exams on Monday remained peaceful with no untoward incident having been reported from any centre. Dawn

Cheating rampant
Karachi: The Secondary School Examination Board should take necessary steps against cheating which has become rampant during examinations. The future and prosperity of the country depends on its educational development and the examination board has to be effective for that. Unfortunately, in Pakistan the system is getting weaker day by day. People are caught cheating but no action is taken against them to deter others that might want to emulate them. To overcome this problem, strict and immediate action should be taken against people involved in cheating. -Rafia Rustam, via e-mail (The Nation)

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Intermediate exams begin on April 28
Karachi: The Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) annual examinations will commence under the auspices of the Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK) on April 28.

This was announced by BIEK chairman Anwar Ahmed Zai on Monday.

About 200,000 candidates would be appearing in the examinations for which some 138 centres had been set up in various educational institutions across the metropolis, he said. The number of registered candidates for the examinations appeared to be seven per cent higher than it was in the previous year, he added.

The board chairman said that the examination schedule had been released on Monday. According to it, he said, papers of science and commerce groups would be conducted in the first phase while those of the humanities group would begin on May 10.

Mr Zai said the examinations were being conducted under a new scheme this year. An objective-type paper carrying 20 per cent of the total marks of a paper would be distributed among the candidates, who would be required to solve and submit it to the invigilator after 20 minutes.

The board chairman stated that the second question paper carrying the remaining 80 per cent marks would be distributed next and it would have to be solved by the candidates in the remaining time of the paper. The second part would comprise questions requiring the candidates to give short answers and would carry 50 per cent marks and descriptive questions carrying the remaining 30 per cent marks.

Furthermore, he added, the timings allowed to the candidates for each paper would be from 9:30am to 12:30pm instead of 9am to 12 noon and no candidate would be allowed into the exam hall after 9:30am.

He also announced that the regular candidates should obtain their admit cards from their respective educational institutions by April 15. The private candidates would also receive their admit cards at the given postal address by the same date, he added.

He advised those candidates who could not receive their admit cards to date to contact the BIEK office for the issuance of duplicate admit cards.

He said the BIEK would make an announcement regarding setting up of vigilance teams on April 15.

Karachi University announced BDS results
The Karachi University on Monday announced the results of the first professional annual exams of BDS.

Ammar Hussain Pabaney of the Fatima Jinnah Dental College stood first by obtaining 574 marks out of a total of 750 marks.

Rehana Faryal Mehdi of the same institution secured the second position with 573 marks.

The third position was shared by Asad Iqbal Malik of the Karachi Medical and Dental College and Dur-e-Aden Ahmed of the Fatima Jinnah Dental College with 554 marks.

According to the statistics, 280 candidates appeared in the exams and of them, 161 were declared successful with a pass percentage of 57.50 per cent.

A Karachi University announcement said that the marks certificates were being issued and the candidates were advised to collect the certificates from their respective colleges.

Karachi University LLB exams revised syllabus
Karachi: The LLB annual examinations 2009 would be held according to the revised syllabus.

This was announced by an official of the Karachi University on Monday.

He said that on the recommendation of the dean of the faculty of law and approval by the vice chancellor, the curriculum of LLB was revised in 2005.

However, those students who had been unsuccessful in their previous examinations would take the exams according to the old syllabus, he said.

The next LLB annual examinations 2009 papers would be prepared according to the revised syllabus, the official of the Karachi University said.

New Karachi University adviser on exams
The newly-appointed adviser to the University of Karachi on examinations affairs, Professor (Dr) Nasiruddin Khan, held a meeting with officers of the department on Monday.

He asked them to suggest steps to bring about improvement in the system.

Earlier, the vice chancellor appointed Professor (Dr) Nasiruddin of the department of mathematics adviser on examination affairs with immediate effect.

He will look after all matters concerning examinations at the university.

Prof Nasiruddin is also authorised to act as the controller of examinations with "full powers of the controller of examinations and its jurisdictions till further orders". App/Dawn

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Students forced to buy expensive books
Karachi: Parents are compelled to buy expensive text books, from class one to ten published by private publishers, due to their unavailability in the market, as the new academic session is going to start from April 1.

Sindh Textbook Board (STB) has been failed to make available the textbooks in the market while the session is scheduled to start from tomorrow (April 1).

Nearly 56 text books, from class one to ten, are still not available in Urdu Bazar.

As per complaints, private schools are forcing students and their parents to purchase books of private publishers, while these books are being sold on double prices than STB.

Around 90 per cent private schools are using textbooks of private publishers.

On the other hand, the board has increased the prices of the said books by 30 to 35 per cent, despite its failure to produce books in the market on time.

Nayyer, a complainant and father of three, said that his children were studying in a private school situated in Gulshan-e-Iqbal and he had spent around Rs2,800 to buy copies of my three children, studying in JP-2, class-III and class-VI. These expenses are beyond from the expenditures of textbooks, he added.

Owners of private schools are of the view that they are forced to purchase books of private publishers due to unavailability of books, published by STB, in the market.

It is pertinent to mention here that not a single English text book from class IV to X is available in the market, while text books of Mathematics in Urdu from class I to VII are not available in the market.

Market also witness scarcity of books including Urdu, Islamiyat, Social Studies (Urdu), Social Studies (English), Science (Urdu), Science (English), Biology and Mathematics (English). The Nation

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