KARACHI: While thousands of intermediate students have been protesting against ‘flawed’ results of their first year exam conducted by the Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK), a separate inquiry committee claimed to have unearthed several cases of result tampering in the BIEK’s annual examination 2022, it emerged on Friday.

A spokesperson for the Chief Minister House said that a three-member inquiry committee, formed around two months ago, had submitted its report to the CM Secretariat.

However, there’s no word for the thousands of affected intermediate students who had applied for ‘scrutiny’ of their first year exam papers and desperately waiting for a positive outcome.

Recently, when caretaker Chief Minister retired Justice Maqbool Baqar was asked about these students he casually remarked that nothing can be done for those who failed their exams.

However, several political parties, particularly the Jamaat-i-Islami, have taken up this serious issue which could affect students aspiring to appear in the aptitude tests of universities on the basis of their first year results.

Probe body submits report on ‘manipulation’ in results of BIEK exams held in 2022

The BIEK, like several other boards in the province, has been running on an ad hoc basis as the caretaker Chief Minister sent the chairman, secretary and controller of exams packing and appointed Karachi commissioner as an interim chairman.

“The CM is aware of the protest of first year student. He has already held a meeting on this issue, but this inquiry report is a separate matter,” CM House spokesperson Rasheed Channa told Dawn. “He is considering their case,” he added.

Many cases of result tampering unearthed

The CM formed an inquiry committee led by Chief Minister Inspection Team (CMIT) official Rafiq Bhutto and comprising Shahmir Bhutto of the finance department and Shahzad Abbasi of the Anti-Corruption Establishment.

The committee was tasked to probe into the allegations of financial irregularities, manipulation in the results of the annual examination and to fix responsibilities against delinquent officers/ officials involved.

“The committee has unearthed many cases of tampering in award lists in pre-medical science groups HSC Annual examination 2022, that the marks of students in various subjects were increased with almost the same/ unified number by cutting the marks in the award list. The committee has attached a list of 31 students and has mentioned students’ code,” the CM House spokesperson said in a statement.

To detect tampering in the results of HSC Annual Examinations 2021, 2022 & 2023, the committee used a random sampling method and examined result of total 180 students of top six colleges selected on the basis of their highest number of students passed in A-1 Grades from pre-engineering and pre- medical groups.

The committee discovered various cases of tampering in award lists in pre-medical Science Groups HSC Annual examination 2022. The assessment of list of scrutiny cases of HSC Annual Examinations 2021 and 2022 discovered an unusual increase in marks of students in both pre-engineering and pre-medical groups.

It said that during the examination of answer scripts of HSC Annual 2023 of pre-medical group, it has been found that many answer scripts which did not have security features, were used in the examination and they lacked signature of the controller or QR code. “Therefore, it can largely be assumed that the replacement of unauthorised answer scripts was done to benefit the favourite candidates.”

The report said that the committee also found that the tabulation register and award list used in the HSC Annual Examination 2023 were found unsigned by the concerned officers. In this regard, the then Controller Zaheeruddin Bhutto stated in his statement that these could be signed later.

“From the above findings, discrepancies/ tampering/cutting in the results of pre-medical section have been discovered in HSC Annual Examination 2022,” the report stated.

“Moreover, irregularities in HSC Annual Examination 2023 i.e. use of answer scripts without security features have also been found which raises the chances of committing tampering in results of HSC Annual Examination 2023 through the replacement of answer scripts,” it said.

The committee stated in its report that the “evidence regarding tampering in results of 2022 was also destroyed during the tenure of [then BIEK chairman] Naseem Memon and Controller Zaheeruddin Bhutto”.

In the report, the committee also mentioned some financial irregularities, which were more of procedural in nature rather than embezzlement or fraud.

“The BIEK doesn’t maintain object-wise classification as per the chart of accounts prescribed for the government institutions by the Auditor General of Pakistan. BIEK prepares its accounts on a holistic basis without segregating the receipts and expenses by the requirements. There is a great probability of data overlapping and duplication. A manual system of accounting is being followed and that so is not complete. The Rules require the Board to prepare account registers every month,” it added.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2024