THE hopes of many students who appeared in the FSc examination from the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Peshawar (BISEP), must have been dashed after the recent result of the annual exam.

The highest marks obtained in BISPEP in pre-medical part-I and II are 503 and 1,003 respectively. There are only a few students who have crossed the figure of 500 in part-I and 1,000 in part-II. By comparison, the results of other boards are far better in terms of the highest number secured as well as the number of students crossing 500 and 1,000.

One wonders as to what led to the poor show by the students of Peshawar: the board, the educational institutions or the students themselves. To me, it is not the latter.

The finger can be pointed at BIESP, which has used a very strict yardstick. This, by itself may not be something bad for sifting good students from bad ones but it becomes so as all the students go through a cut-throat competition for getting admission to professional colleges. Therefore, the touchstone for measuring the students’ level of knowledge and understanding should be the same.

This criteria is not being followed as BISEP has a harsh marking policy compared to other boards this becomes even more clear so when viewed in the context of new admission criteria for professional colleges.

According to the new formula, the marks of entry test have been reduced from 800 to 200 with 50 per cent weightage and no negative marking.

Besides, in the formula 80 marks have been allocated to biology, in which scoring, unlike physics and chemistry, does not require much conceptual clarity and someone with superior cramming power can outperform others by scoring high in this subject.

In this way, by increasing the weightage of FSc marks, the importance of the entry test has been trimmed down considerably. In other words, there is no more level playing field for the students of Peshawar to compete with students of other boards, thereby minimising the chances of well-deserved students to make it to the medical and other institutions . This uneven environment for competition militates against the principle of meritocracy, pledged by the present government to uphold.

Shaukat Hayat

Peshawar

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2019