Unavailable course books leave students dreading annual exams In Karachi.
Karachi :With annual exams barely a month away, students of Class 9 fear they will not be fully prepared for the chemistry or biology paper, as textbooks containing questions from these subjects are unavailable in the market.
Previously, the chemistry and biology course for Class 9 consisted of two portions, but this year, exams are scheduled to follow a new pattern, according to which the courses have been split into two separate books. The chemistry Book 1 now comprises inorganic chemistry, and Book 2 covers industrial and organic chemistry. However, the latter has not been available until recently. As a result, many students have said they doubt they can even pass the exam.
According Majid Ali, a school teacher, it is difficult to cover the subject matter in such a short amount of time. If these books had been made available earlier, students would not face this problem, he said.
Ali also pointed out that with the academic year being reduced to just 155 days, students were cramming hard and did not have enough time to cover the course. Even today, most students do not have Book 2, added Obaidullah Chaudry, who teaches at a coaching centre. In fact, many of them have left our coaching centre since we started teaching Book 2, saying they were not mentally prepared for it.
Students who will sit for the biology exam face a similar problem. Chaudry said that the biology Book 2 is a summary of the course in Class 11, including detailed topics about the human body, and is impossible to cover in one month. Two to five per cent of the students may manage, but the average student will not, he predicted.
This is not the first time a new exam pattern has been introduced. A new pattern had also been announced two years ago, although when the time came, the exam paper was still based on the old pattern. Currently, many students have said they are confused which pattern the exams will follow this year, but sources from the Board of Secondary Education Karachi told The News that the exam paper would include questions from Book 2.
We have not issued any circular in this connection. The previous circular is still applicable and the paper will be made on the new pattern, thus Book 2 will be included, they said.
While sources maintained that Book 2 could not be ignored, they added that students would have a choice when answering the questions. It is very likely that the questions from Book 2 will be optional, said a source. For example, if a student has to attempt five questions in total, he would be given a total of ten questions, which will increase his choice.
According to the source, those who have not studied Book 1 would still be able to attempt five questions, but would have no choice. However, those who have partially or completely studied Book 2 will have a better choice, since they may be able to attempt both the main and the optional question.
