Intermediate board’s annual examinations begin tomorrow

The Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK) reiterated on Saturday that the Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC) Annual Examinations 2021 will start as scheduled on July 26 (tomorrow).

BIEK Chairman Prof Dr Saeeduddin said that the board has completed all the preparations and taken all the measures to conduct the exams in a transparent manner. Admit cards and date sheets have already been issued to the students, he added.

He advised the students who will be taking the annual exams not to get confused about them because they will be held in accordance with the schedule already announced. He made the assurance that board staffers, vigilance teams and invigilators have been vaccinated, so they can perform their duties at the exam centres.

Earlier on Saturday, while addressing a news conference, Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani said that educational institutions have been closed due to the Covid-19 situation in the province, but exams cannot be cancelled because it can badly disrupt the ongoing academic year.

On Friday the Sindh government had decided to keep all educational institutions closed from July 26, but the meeting of the provincial task force on the coronavirus had also decided that the annual exams would be conducted as per the schedule issued by the respective educational boards.

On July 20 the Sindh College Education Department had announced providing face masks and hand sanitisers to all the students taking their HSSC Annual Examinations 2021.

According to the department’s notification, in pursuance of the decision taken by the provincial Covid task force and the school education & literacy department’s steering committee, all the students and invigilators have to strictly follow the standard operating procedures during the intermediate exams.

In this regard, the Government of Sindh had decided to provide face masks and hand sanitisers to each candidate at the examination centres. Principals had been directed to contact the directorate general of colleges on July 23 and 24 for receiving the face masks and hand sanitisers according to the list of candidates taking the exams.

This year 55,443 students of the pre-medical, pre-engineering, general science, home economics and commerce groups will take their HSSC exams in the morning shift. As for the evening shift, 57,157 external candidates, regular students of the arts group, special candidates and physical education students will take their HSSC exams.

A total of 112,600 students will be taking their HSSC exams, while 210 examination centres have been set up for the morning and evening shifts.