BSEK admit cards delayed
Karachi:Rangers and police personnel baton-charged hundreds of students and their parents who gathered outside the Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) office to collect their admit cards just two days ahead of the examinations. Thousands of private and regular candidates for the BSEK’s annual examinations-2010 for Class IX and X are yet to receive their admit cards.
Rangers and the local police misbehaved with students and parents when they visited the Board Office to collect the admit cards for the SSC exams scheduled for March 24. Law-enforcers even baton-charged the students and their parents in an attempt to clear the BSEK premises. This alleged mismanagement at the BSEK has irked thousands of candidates of Class IX and X, who are now worried about their admit cards, with examination dates looming on the horizon.
Thousands of students and their parents had come to the BSEK building to collect their admit cards, despite the heat and humidity. They waited for hours in long queues, but the employees at the counters told them that their admit cards were not ready and they should come and collect them on March 23, a day before their exams. Moreover, even though private candidates had submitted their examinations forms a long time ago, at least 1,000 candidates had not received their admit cards at their residences till the time this report was filed. One reason for this could be that the BSEK had recently given the contract (for dispatching admit cards to students’ homes) to a comparatively new and unknown courier service. The company, in turn, returned 1,000 undelivered admit cards to the Board Office. BSEK Secretary Hoor Bi Mazhar said, however, that the cards were returned because the candidates had mentioned incomplete postal addresses on their forms.
Missed deadlines: BSEK Secretary Hoor Bi Mazhar told The News that the Board had no intention of further extending the submission date for examination forms. BSEK Chairman Anzar Ahmed had previously, on grounds of humanity, given three extra days to students to submit their forms along with late fees. As a result, around 4, 652 candidates submitted their examination forms between March 16 and March 18, Mazhar said.
“However, many students failed to submit their forms on time, and are now demanding a further extension in the submission dates. This is not possible at all,” Mazhar said. “Our employees are working round-the-clock to complete the process of issuing admit cards. The staff sit late at night to complete this as soon as possible.”
‘Mafia’ involvement: The BSEK Secretary further said that the “mafia” took advantage of the situation and tried to submit the forms of students who were not enrolled at any school. “These candidates often come from outside the province and try to appear in the board’s exams in Karachi,” Mazhar said, adding that the Board will never entertain such pupils.
She also lashed out at the administration of private schools and alleged that they had not deposited fees and examination forms on time.
On the other hand, the representatives of private schools as well as parents of students told The News that they had submitted the examination forms and fees within the due dates, but were yet to receive the admit cards. The parents also blamed the BSEK staff for insulting behaviour. Some parents also told The News that they had been coming to the Board Office to collect admit cards for several days; each time they were forced to return home disappointed.
The students who managed to get admit cards on Monday said that they had to pay Rs100 for duplicate admit cards. Private candidates added that they had already paid the amount for duplicate admit cards.
The Board has also condoned the fees of regular and private candidates. According to the official statement, a 15-per cent discount was given to students. Sources at the BSEK told The News, however, that a 50- to 70-per cent discount was awarded to “favourite” private schools.
The policemen who had been called for security at the BSEK were, meanwhile, found dosing inside their police mobile (no. SP-5897). Even the BSEK secretary, who was supposed to deal with the matter in absence of the BSEK chairman, visited the counters only when a majority of the protesters had left the BSEK premises.The news
