Despite various government attempts to tighten the machinery, examinations papers were still leaked from Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Sukkur and Larkana on Friday. According to details, the papers of the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) Part I and II (Grades 9 and 10) were leaked.
The Chemistry paper of the BISE Sukkur’s SSC Part-I and Islamiat paper of the BISE Larkana’s SSC Part-II was said to be let slip. The students used mobile phones and guidebooks to solve the Chemistry question paper, which was available on social media as well.
Similarly, the Islamiat question paper was shared on WhatsApp groups at 9 am. According to BISE, Larkana, their teams in Dadu and Kashmore districts failed to detect any copy case, on Friday, when the Matriculation students were appearing for Islamiat paper. Students were said to have invented modern methods of cheating using digital devices.
They had established WhatsApp groups, where retired teachers or those who have not been hired for invigilation are solving papers before sharing them in these groups. The candidates would then write answers.
The invigilators did not perform their duties as required under the rules, for which they had been paid by the BISE, they added. They must be taken to task because they are the ones who can control the copy culture.
Meanwhile, Section 144 imposed by the provincial government could not do much to stop the irrelevant persons from entering the examination centres.
The photocopy shops also remained open during the assessment time. Another factor facilitating the copy culture remained the deployment of cops, who were turning blind eye to malpractices because they had children of their own, sources noted.
The presence of invigilators, therefore, could not deter the cheating mafia who remained active at the examination centres.
In a similar development, as many as 157 copy cases were captured by various BISE Larkana teams on Friday, throughout six districts, Larkana, Kambar-Shahdadkot, Dadu, Shikarpur, Jacobabad and Kashmore.
Their crackdown also found 125 impersonators and two replacement candidates, which validates how strong the menace of copy culture has become. It looks increasingly hard for the education department to wipe it out from the system.
The education department also issued an order, under which Ahmed Bozdar teaching at Government High School, Jarwar, Ghotki, was placed under suspension over his involvement in examination-related malpractices: lack of discipline; unfair means, impersonation and detection of copy cases.
Sindh Education Minister, Syed Sardar Ali Shah, also paid surprise visits to various examination centres in Kambar-Shahdadkot and Larkana city. He expressed concerns at the conduction of examinations.
He warned the principals, invigilators and headmasters that he would not spare anyone found in aiding and abetting cheating.
He visited Government Pilot School as well as Girls Middle School. Seeing the poor administration at the pilot school, he used harsh language against its principal.
A social worker, not willing to be named, said that we were producing cheaters, who will rule us in the future. He wondered what then would be the fate of our poor nation.
He urged the authorities to introduce a semester system in all government schools, colleges and universities to check the performance of the teachers, lecturers and professors.
They were said to be drawing huge monthly salaries but doing almost nothing. Not doing so would continue to produce cheaters as future rulers, he lamented.