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Students at exam centres brave power cuts
KARACHI, May 23(Dawn): Thousands of boys and girls appearing in the Class IX exams
braved sweltering heat and frequent power breakdowns at a number of examination
centres in the city.
Some 58,100 boys and 45,200 girls, enrolled for the
SSC-I (Science Group), appeared for the English paper on Tuesday while 40,000
students of general group will appear in the exam on Wednesday.
When
thousands of teenagers reached their centres located in different parts of the
city, they found the examination rooms terribly hot. As they finally settled
down to take exams most of them had already their minds swirling because of
heat.
The Karachi Electric Supply Corporation stuck to its past tradition
and added to the ordeal of the students with power breakdowns.
A survey
of examination centres showed that most of them lacked basic facilities. Even if
there was no load-shedding, students - both boys and girls - found them sweating
at the examination rooms in the absence of fans.
"I could not even study
at home because of power outages and appearing in examinations in such
conditions is just like a nightmare," Masooma Latif, a student said.
Many students said they could not take a final look at their books
due to power breakdowns in the city.
Meanwhile, the Board of Secondary
Education notified four special teams and 75 vigilance teams to monitor the
exams. According to the board officials, none of the office-bearers of any
teachers' association has been included in the vigilance teams to make the
exercise more transparent and pressure-free.
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