Result confusion

There is a simple thing that the Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) is tasked with doing. It must conduct examinations and ensure that the results are delivered in a timely and accurate basis. This year, it turned out that they proudly announced that results had been finalised two weeks before the deadline. It was only when students arrived protesting at its offices a day later than they realised that many of the students had not been given their results, while others had received inaccurate results, being marked absent in exams they had clearly sat for. BSEK chairman Prof Ahmed Zai issued a challenge to anyone who thought the results were unfair. A day later, the challenge was accepted by students who came to protest at the board office. On Monday, the BSEK chairman announced the creation of a scrutiny committee to look into this year’s examinations.
The problem appears to be the unnecessary hurry in which the BSEK announced the results. The board had announced that the results would all be available online, but many students were unable to find them. The BSEK promised scrutiny within five days and as protests continued into Thursday, the board invited students to see their checked examination papers. It also seems that at least 10 educational institutions had not submitted the physics practical books for around 800 students. The BSEK controller has been asked to provide relief, but it is not clear what that relief would be without the actual exam papers having been checked and marked. The brave move BSEK made was to issue an open invitation to parents of failed students to check the answer booklets of their children. This is not a legal obligation. It is also a strange method to gain legitimacy. Physical access to answer booklets would be a logistical nightmare, but the BSEK could consider uploading all checked answer booklets every year. The BSEK chairman may have correctly challenged the credibility of some students leading the protests, but there have been glaring errors on its own part. The 800 students unfairly marked absent is the most obvious example. The BSEK needs to examine its own actions, instead of claiming everyone is making false claims.