Testing exams
THE current controversy vis-à-vis the Board of Intermediate Education Karachi’s (BIEK) exam results raises many doubts about our exam system all over the country. A political party has charged that a large number of students have been wrongly failed and that this should be probed by an independent body. The fact is that an honest investigation is warranted to expose the farce our public sector examinations have become.
Neither is the paradox of foreign school-leaving exams ever discussed. The need for the two private exam boards that have emerged in the last two decades has not been explained either. Since exams are the key criteria to determining the quality of education being imparted to children in Pakistan, neglecting them amounts to camouflaging the poor learning that is presumably taking place in our schools.
Let us first have a look at our local matriculation and intermediate examination boards. There are 28 of them in the country — eight in Sindh alone. Every province manages its own boards, while the Federal Board is for Islamabad Capital Territory, though its jurisdiction also extends to institutions across Pakistan that are affiliated with it.
To give the reader an idea of how the boards are faring, I shall focus on the Karachi boards, of which I have personal experience. In 2024, approximately 167,000 students appeared for their matriculation exams; over 80 per cent passed. Over 88,000 students appeared for their intermediate exams, but less than half managed to clear all their papers. (These results have been removed from the BIEK’s website.) For one set of students, exams seemed to be child’s play, while for the other it became a formidable challenge. Small wonder the results of the medical college entrance tests were so appalling.
Foreign exams are splitting us into two classes.
Obviously, the two boards mentioned are not functioning as they should be. Anecdotal evidence suggests that resort to unfair means is common, with question papers being leaked before the exams are held, students smuggling in ‘pharrahs’, mobile phones and even books into the examination halls, and marks being changed with the help of examiners, whose palms are greased lavishly for the purpose. How would one react to instructions issued by ministers and other officials to omit a part of the curriculum from the purview of the paper or show leniency in marking? Many decades ago, I met an ex-controller of exams who confided that he had resigned as he faced death threats from a political party that wanted him to pass candidates of one ethnicity so that they would get jobs. The Intermediate Board listed on its website (later withdrawn) that 189 students were caught cheating; 89 were found using their mobile phones to cheat; and six people were found impersonating the exam candidate.
Given the abominable state of our government boards, it is not strange that private schools catering to the needs of the children of the elite are heading for O- and A-Levels examinations. The major reservations I have in respect of these foreign exams are two. First, they are beyond the reach of people of modest means. Secondly, these exams are splitting us into two classes, which is not a desirable feature of our society.
It has been reported that in 2024, nearly 60,000 students appeared for their O- and A-Levels examinations. Each child had to pay nearly Rs240,000 as exam fees. Collectively, the country spent about Rs14.4 billion in foreign currency. Logically, this cannot be justified.
The Aga Khan University Examination Board (AKUEB) has mercifully emerged as an indigenous substitute for foreign boards. It has been functioning since 2007, and its performance has been found to be good. It began as a matric board but has moved on to add the intermediate examination to its agenda. It also expanded its role from a purely examining body to an institution that extends its support to the teachers of affiliated schools.
Its latest move has been to enter into an MOU with the Knowledge Platform for facilitating transfer of knowledge digitally. Since a major factor in our poor state of education is the missing or abysmal training of teachers, inducting the Knowledge Platform appears to be a promising move. Three years ago, the Balochistan High Court had directed some of the local boards to seek guidance from the AKUEB, which amounts to an official endorsement of its standards. There is a need to get more schools to be affiliated with it. The Ziauddin Board is still too young to comment on.
The fact is that education in Pakistan needs a multifaceted approach if it is to be revamped. It is not just one sector that needs to be addressed if reform has to have an impact.
Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2025