Students and their parents are facing the music to find allocated centres for the Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) examination as eleventh hour arrangements regarding the allocation of centres have left them in a fix. A last minute change in the examination centres and incorrect addresses of the centres compounded the miseries of the concerned.
Many students and parents also visited secretary, controller and chairman's offices to register their complains about the nightmarish scenario. The board authorities have also been seen guiding the students and parents about the addresses and bus routes of the newly allocated examination centres. A day before the commencement of examination, the administrators of various schools also complained of over crowding at their centres. They argued that they do not have enough space or staff to deal justly with the volume of work.
Sharing his grievances, an administrator of a private school said, "the board management had initially allocated Prince Aly Boys Secondary School, which is situated in the Malir City, as the examination centre for 246 students of SSC-I and 234 students of SSC-II, but a day before the examination, the BSEK added 52 more students to the tally."
Siddique Awan, an administrator of a school complained that no inspection team, neither visited the school before allocating the centre, nor informed the school of their decision. There are only 10 rooms in the school, but the number of contesting candidates is much higher than the school's capacity, he said.
He said that the controller examination has been informed that the school cannot entertain students, who exceed its capacity, adding that the school would not allow the piling on candidates to sit in the centre for examination. When this reporter visited another examination centre, which according to a list, provided by the board administration, is situated in Ghaziabad - turned out to be an examination centre which is located in Yaqoobabad, near Northern Bypass.
The schools whose centre was put in the centre are: Ghazala Public School in Sector 14/C Orangi Town, Johar Public School in Sector 14/C, Orangi Town, Aman Grammar School in Sector 16 Orangi Town, Johar Public School at Johar Chowk in Sector 14/E, Superior English School, Orangi Town and Iqra Mohammadan School, Tori Bangash were at least 3 km away from the centre.
The students of eight secondary schools of Ghaziabad, Orangi Town were put in examination centre, which is about 3kms away from their respective schools. There are only 10 rooms in the school and an equal numbers of teachers. On official records, the management had shown huge space and workforce of 22 teachers to conduct the annual examination. When investigated, it was exposed that the centre's management has called former employees the staff.
It was revealed that the centre even borrowed furniture from other schools for examination. The details of borrowed furniture could not be known, but official of Aman Secondary School Orangi Town claimed to have provided 20 desks to serve the purpose.
The officials of the schools, whose students were put in the centre, have also claimed that they have filed complaints to the board about the non-availability of public transport and poor law and order situation. The board has set an examination centre in a welfare school, namely Medico Metropolitan Rotary School, where no public transport exists and people in general avoid visiting the area due to an uncertain law and order situation.
It was also disclosed that the management of these schools had written letter to the controller examination and informed about the difficulties. They had also warned the board of the possibilities of untoward incidents. The school management has hired private transport for providing pick and drop facility to their students at the examination centre.
Kaleem Asghar Kirmani Controller of Examination BSEK rejected all the reports regarding the issue and said that the board had not received any objection from the schools management over the allocation of Medico Metropolitan Rotary School as a centre for the examination.
"The board had not been provided details of shortage of work force or hiring of ex-employees for conducting annual examination," he said. He said the vigilance teams of the board had visited the examination centre and had submitted a satisfactory report. "The board would not change the centre," Relating the Prince Aly Boys Secondary School he said that there is enough space for more candidates.
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