● Staff involved in malpractice to be dismissed as Sindh govt announces strict action against cheating in exams
KARACHI: In a major move to curb unfair means (cheating) in board examinations, the Sindh government has decided to act sternly not only against students caught cheating, but colluding staff as well.
Education Minister Sardar Shah and Sindh Minister for Universities and Boards Muhammad Ismail Rahu together said a zero-tolerance policy against cheating had been enforced in matriculation and intermediate examinations.
They said students caught cheating while taking an exam would be barred from appearing in future board exams, while the staff such as invigilators, internal or external examiners, or administrative officials found facilitating them “will be dismissed from service.”
The ongoing matriculation exams have been plagued by question-paper leaks, bribery, and administrative failures.
The ministers said students found in possession of mobile phones or cheating material will be immediately expelled from examination halls and their papers will be cancelled.
Students claim they were reassigned examination centres after already appearing in multiple papers, adding to confusion and disruption.
Exam content, including a computer science paper and its answers circulated on social media around 20 minutes before the exam began, raised questions about the scale and timing of the leak.
Newsroompakistan reports that the monitoring and purging exercise are not new. In fact, students cheating in exams happens all over Pakistan, not just Sindh, and more often than not an exrcise in futility, in that such corruption is an annually recurring phenomenon.
An “English Medium” school teacher told NP that cheating was more or less ingrained in Pakistani society, hence Matriculation exams were more or less a nursery for the national character, oft times supportewd by the home environment.
