SPLA accuses intermediate board of malpractices during ongoing exams

The Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association (SPLA) have issued a white paper on malpractices in the ongoing annual intermediate examinations that began under the Board Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK) last month.

SPLA Central Leader Ferozuddin Siddiqui, Syed Ali Murtaza, Prof Mohammad Amir Haq, Prof Ghulam Rasul Lakho, Prof Aziz Memon and others launched the paper in a press conference at the Government Islamia Arts and Commerce College on Wednesday.

According to statement issued from the association, the SPLA leaders said that BIEK Chairman Prof Inam Ahmed did not have the capacity to conduct a transparent assessment process. “Everyone knows that cheating culture was at its peak in the exams, while BIEK officials could not introduce an effective mechanism that would prevent such malpractices,” the statement said.

According to the SPLA leaders, around 10 questions papers have been leaked from centres during the ongoing exams and the vigilance teams formed for checking comprised of junior lecturers who don’t have the required experience. “The board officials have formed home centres on the basis of favouritism and for their own benefits. But, the irony is that the Sindh government has remained silent on such mismanagement,” they said.

The leaders further said that the BIEK chairman had announced before the start of exams that no one would be allowed to bring cell phones to exams centres, but later on, his announcement became a joke because he himself took selfies and photos in the exam centres and released them to the media and on social media.

The chairman not only violated ethics but also broke his own rules that he introduced just before the exams, the SPLA statement said. Quoting the SPLA further, the statement added that private guards with weapons have been visiting the exam centres, while the vigilance teams were not reporting impersonation cases and were not even visiting the centres that are set up in suburban areas of the city.

The SPLA further claimed that the board has not yet paid the dues of examiners who performed duties in the previous exams. They also claimed that the controller of examinations would be retiring from his services next month but continues to degrade teachers in every meeting, while Prof Inam Ahmed is trying to extend his services and has prepared a summary in this regard that is to be sent to authorities for approval, which was against the law.

Presenting their report at the press conference, the SPLA leaders alleged that the BIEK chief had been appointed on the basis of favouritism. “Before joining the board, Prof Inam Ahmed was a declared failed regional director colleges. Since he served as director colleges, no student of any government college has bagged top positions.”

They claimed that Prof Inam Ahmed was appointed as the chairman of the BIEK because he remained the teacher of a top influential person and her daughter. They also said that policies introduced by Ahmed had remained unsuccessful.

The SPLA officials further said that the chairman made home centres to facilitate a special group and their children because he himself lives in the cantonment area. Making home centres just for a special group is discrimination with the candidates of other areas, they said.

On the other hand, BIEK chief Inam Ahmed denied all these allegations made by the association. When contacted, Ahmed told The News that in the first phase, 120 examination centres were made across the city as per the board’s rules and that every year the BIEK forms a committee to decide about these centres.

“I was appointed on merit. I served as director colleges and then chairman of BIEK. If SPLA leaders have proofs against me they should file a proper case in the court,” he said. According to him, the board officials have tried to conduct transparent examinations but SPLA leaders wanted to detract from the exams by making such claims.

Responding to question papers’ leaking, he said that the paper being leaked 10 to 30 minutes before the start of an exam is “not a big issue because candidates would attempt their papers within the same hour”.

He further said that SPLA teachers should instead focus their energies on teaching. “If they teach up to the mark, the students of state-run colleges could have obtained positions in the exams.”