KARACHI: Sindh Education and Labour Minister Saeed Ghani has said that after promoting children from classes one to eight they will also do the same for the students of classes nine, 10, 11 and 12. He was speaking at a follow-up press conference after the first one following the Sindh government’s steering committee on education meeting of two days ago.

Flanked by Sindh Education Secretary Syed Khalid Haider Shah and Secretary for Colleges Baqir Naqvi at the Sindh Assembly auditorium on Thursday, the education minister said that the students of classes nine, 10, 11 and 12 would also be promoted without exams to the next level and their marks would be increased by three per cent under a formula system.

“It has been agreed in the National Curriculum Council meeting of the Federal Minister of Education Shafqat Mahmood and the ministers of education of other provinces that in the present circumstances, it is not possible to conduct examinations. However, to improve the position of the students and if they are also willing, exams can also be taken,” he said.

Saeed Ghani said that two days ago in the steering committee meeting it was said that they will promote students of classes one to eight but a sub-committee had to be formed to review the case of classes nine to 12. He said that the committee had submitted its report a day prior, which also proposed amendments in the law regarding promotion of students of these classes without examinations. Saeed Ghani said that in that regard it was agreed in the meeting chaired by the federal minister of education in the NCC on Thursday bringing together the education ministers of all the provinces through video link. “The students will be promoted to the next classes without examinations and will be given three per cent extra marks. If one’s marks in the ninth class is 60 per cent, then he or she will now be counted as 63 per cent in the matriculation result making him or her able to get admission to the 11th in the same proportion. Similarly, one’s success rate in the 11th will be calculated by adding three per cent to it,” he said.

Minister says if students want to improve their positions, exams will also be held

Replying to a question, Mr Ghani said that the current situation was not normal and he agreed that the move would definitely lead to some problems, so the sub-committee would hold regular meetings to resolve the issues. While replying to another question, the minister said that they were also in touch with the universities and higher secondary boards in that regard. “Similarly, we are also in touch with the medical and engineering admissions and technical boards,” he said.Answering another question, he said that students who had failed in one or two subjects or had not taken the exam for any reason would be declared successful by giving them passing marks.Asked about the teachers who passed their test, he said: “We want to regularise all of them but we do not want them to be regularised in such a way that they will face difficulties going forward.”

Reopening and sealing of markets

Replying to a question on opening of business and commercial centres in Karachi and subsequent sealing of some markets, the minister for education, who is also the labour minister, said that they had several meetings with the business community and their demand was the same. “They had agreed to open their business and for this they will follow whatever SOPs the government will create. A few days ago, all the business leaders met the Sindh chief minister in this very auditorium of the Sindh Assembly and assured him that if the SOPs were not implemented, the responsible traders would be held accountable. After that the business and trade centres were opened but the SOPs were not implemented on the first day. We called the business leaders and gave them two days to do that, but it did not happen even after that, and now we are forced to seal their shops and markets,” he said.Answering another question, he said: “We have made it clear before and now we are making it clear again that if the attitude of the business community is better and SOPs are followed, we can give more concessions, but if the attitudes are not serious, we can also not help much.”

Published in Dawn, May 15th, 2020