KARACHI: A report by an investigative committee has uncovered multiple instances of financial and administrative irregularities combined with test result tampering at the Board of Intermediate Education, Karachi (BIEK), which is troubling news for Sindh’s education sector.
This development coincides with the chief minister’s previous formation of an inquiry commission to look into claims of manipulation in the annual examination results and hold those involved accountable.
In order to find evidence of results tampering, the committee employed a random sample technique during its investigation. It looked at pre-engineering and pre-medical groups, A-1 Grade scores, and the top six institutions out of all other colleges for the HSC Annual Examinations 2021 to 2023.
In the report that was turned in to the Chief Minister Secretariat, the committee found multiple instances of award lists manipulation in the pre-medical Science Groups HSC Annual Examination 2022. Students’ marks were increased in a number of subjects with nearly identical numbers by manipulating the award list.
By evaluating the list of scrutiny cases from the HSC Annual Examinations for 2021 and 2022, it also discovered an unexpected rise in the grades of students in the pre-engineering and pre-medical groups.
When the HSC Annual 2023 answer scripts for the pre-medical group were evaluated, it was discovered that some of the answer scripts used in the test lacked security features, such as the signature of the Controller Examination or a QR code. This led to the hypothesis that unapproved answer scripts had been replaced in order to benefit candidates who were deemed more qualified.
Additionally, the concerned officials discovered that the award list and tabulation register utilized in the HSC Annual Examination 2023 were not signed.
“During the tenure of Naseem Memon and Controller Examination Zaheeruddin Bhutto, as well as concerned supervisors and sectional heads (custodians of record) of pre-engineering and pre-medical groups, i.e., Controller Examination, Deputy Controller Examination, Assistant Controller Examination, and so on, the evidence regarding tampering in the results of 2022 was also destroyed.”
