The Ministry of Education is responsible for the controversial results of Inter, it is recommended to give grace marks to the students

Karachi: The Sindh government’s fact-finding committee recommended giving grace marks to the affected students of inter-year 1st.

Sindh government’s fact-finding committee has recommended giving grace marks to the affected students of the inter-year first Karachi board and explained the reasons for the students’ failure. In the light of the investigation, the responsibility for the decrease in the ratio of results or the increase in the number of failed students is falling on the board as well as the Sindh Ministry of Education.

On the recommendation of the committee, the amount of grace marks will be determined on the instructions of the caretaker chief minister of Sindh. Furthermore, the three major reasons for the large number of students failing in the 2023 results were “non-availability of textbooks after the change of syllabus, late announcement of marking scheme, reduction of MCQs and strict marking by examiners”. This investigation report will be handed over to the Sindh government sometime on Monday.

It should be noted that the results of Inter Year 1 were released on January 9. The pre-medical and pre-engineering examination results were 34 to 36 percent, which was 8 to 10 percent lower than last year, and protests erupted after a large number of students failed the exams.

On the protest of the students, the caretaker Chief Minister of Sindh Justice (R) Maqbool Baqir had established a fact-finding committee under the chairmanship of NED University Vice Chancellor Dr. Sarosh Hashmat Lodhi on February 3. In the committee, the Executive Director of IBA Karachi, Dr. Akbar Zaidi and Sindh HEC Secretary Moin Siddiqui were also present.

The committee conducted a continuous investigation for a week. Interviews of 28 persons including board officers, head examiners, examiners and paper setters were conducted while nearly 300 examination copies were re-examined after which the committee prepared its report.

Highly trusted sources have told Express that the committee came to the conclusion that the results of the students have been affected due to at least three or more reasons, so in its recommendations, the committee has said that the students of the respective faculties of the inter-year first. Separate grace marks should be given in the subjects of Physics, Chemistry, Zoology, Botany, Mathematics and Statistics, in which grace marks are given from 0 marks to the highest level, but how much these grace marks should be determined on the instructions of the caretaker Chief Minister. has been abandoned. However, sources say that as a result of these grace marks, a certain number of students may pass while some students’ grades will also improve.

According to the sources, the committee has come to the conclusion that the most important or major reason for the drop in the percentage of results or the large number of students failing after the change in the syllabus is that the textbooks are changed from the beginning of the session to half the session or later. is not available and the Department of Education has not been able to print the textbooks according to the new syllabus at the college level and reach the market, while the Urdu medium books of some subjects could not be available till the end of the year, which severely affected the studies of the students. .

Sources said that another reason related to this came to light that after the changes made in the syllabus, such difficult topics were included in the lessons of scientific subjects which are taught in the second year even at the BS level in universities. With which the students were not compatible.

Moreover, among the two reasons, the second reason is that the examiner was very strict in marking and where there was scope for giving 4 marks, 2 marks were given, while another reason was the very late announcement of the paper pattern. The portion of MCQs was also reduced from 40% to 20% which was the first time post-Covid and the reduction in the portion of MCQs also affected the marking of students. To keep the paper pattern uniform in all the boards, it is decided in the steering committee of the education department which was convened much later.

It should be noted that after the fact-finding committee completed the investigation and added the relevant points in the report, this matter has now come to the court of the caretaker Sindh government, while the reasons for the reduction in the ratio of results are directly related. More than the higher secondary education board has been linked to the education department and the Sindh Ministry of Education has been held responsible for the crisis.