Authorities from the Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) on Tuesday found 38 centre control officers responsible for mismanagement in the organisation of annual matriculation exams in Karachi.
Chairman BSEK Syed Sharaf Ali Shah told the media that it was a conspiracy to defame the education board. He admitted that 38 centre control officers had not arrived at the examination centres at the given time.
Shah said that a probe is underway to ascertain whether the CCOs had been deliberately stopped to reach the examination centres in Karachi or the concerned officials were not informed.
The BSEK chairman said that it has been decided to suspend CCOs associated with the government schools. On the other hand, it has been decided that the officers from private schools will not be included in any assignment in the future.
Shah announced that BSEK will conduct exams again in some centres included in the general group. However, a final decision on the matter will be taken after due discussion with the officers in charge.
Some sources claimed that an organised mafia to promote cheating culture had stopped CCOs from timely arriving at the examination centres.
A student who appeared in the matric exams in Sukkur revealed that he observed new techniques to promote cheating as the children of influential persons have been provided mobile phones to get help for solving their exam papers.
The student added that they have also provided cellphones despite it is banned for students to carry while appearing in the exams. He revealed that they have been informed to hide the mobile phones before the visits of the administrative teams and board officials.
It was learnt that both private schools and the provincial education department were involved in cheating during examinations of 9th and 10th classes across Sindh.
BSEK had to extend the duration of the matric exam on Monday after the 10th-grade paper could not be delivered at various examination centres in the city, hours after its commencement at 9:30 am.
The physics questionnaire could not be delivered to examination centres set up at private schools in Dhoraji, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Landhi and Korangi areas despite the official time of commencement.
Mismanagement was also witnessed during the first paper of class 10 in Karachi after it emerged that the matric paper was leaked online.
The physics questionnaire for class 10 was leaked on social media at 9:34 am, four minutes after the matric exam was scheduled to begin at 9:30 am besides also the circulation of the solved physics paper on social media.
