Dismal performance of KIU board
Written by: Mudassir Abbas
The primary goal of the educational institutions is to develop the
people mentally, socially and spiritually. Universities are expected toplay the
most important role to achieve this noble cause. Karakoram International
University (KIU) is the first university established in Gilgit Baltistan (GB)
by a charter from the federal governmentin 2002, on the orders of General
Pervez Musharraf, then President of Pakistan.
At the time, all the government schools and colleges as well as many
private institutions, located in the region, got register with KIU, replacing
FBISE.Its external board, whose responsibility is to conduct examinations,
became functional by conducting its very first exams in 2003, which was hailed
a great success for the educationaldevelopment of the GB.
Although since then, it is supervising examinations, but it failed to
develop its own syllabus and paper pattern, by justfollowing FBISE’s methods.
Leading schools and colleges of the region, like the ones run by armed forces
and many other admired institutions remained part of FBISE, but with time many
other private institutions started to drawback their registrations from KIU to tag
it with FBISE. Last year GB’s educational minister Ibrahim Sanai, announced
that all the government schools and colleges of the region will be affiliated
with FBISE. This raised the question, why KIU failed to gain the trust of these
educational institutions?
People see KIU board with the prism of FBISE. It is naive expecting it
to show performance like that of FBISE, which was established in 1975, with
huge resources and expert human capital. In 2018, FBISE result in HSSC examwas 77.41%,
whereas that of KIU was 53.18% passed. The ratio showshigher credibility of
FBISE boardand led many students to pursue for it.
As majority of high standard private schools have never bother to
affiliate with KIU, whichleave only low quality schools at the lap of KIU. In
2018 slightly higherresult of Govt colleges (53.31%),from private ones(52.83%)in
the HSSC exam, shows miserable performance of these privately owned colleges.
Another reason for the downfall of this board is nepotism and cronyism.
There is no any proper mechanism to select examiner and invigilator; former is
selected mainly through nepotism and later was chosen by former. Examiners are
mainly chosen from the same area where examination centres are located and
school owners use their lobbies to appoint examiners of their own choice to help
their students in cheating. Teachersare becoming invigilators of their own
students, and in practical exams almost all the students are given full marks.
Our society also share the part of responsibility for KIU’s dismal
performance by acceptingcultureof cheatingin the education system. Rather than
curbing this malice, parents and relatives want their children to have
unhindered access to cheating materials; and when it comes to solving
mathematical theorems students are considering cheating like their
birth’sright. It seemed the administration was pretty helpless in the face of
the strong ‘mafias’ that have been formed to facilitate cheating. In 2014, the
board became very controversial, and became a source of pain, when almost all
the papers of HSSC were being leaked by alleged role of employees of Pakistan
post.
Assessment level of papers also need an immediate attention of relevant
authorities for rectification. There is no any criteria for selecting teachers
to hand papers for assessment, especially Urdu, Islamiat and Pak-study.
Markings are mainly based on quantity of writing not on quality based. Quick
checking to make more and more money also tobe blamed. That iswhy, even the
toppers find it difficult to place their names into the list of almost hundred
students selected for medical colleges.
Too many examination centers in the same city, without taking regard of
buildings, where classes cannot accommodate more than ten students, has cost
the board with financial burdens. Centers located at distant and difficult
areas are quite impossible to be inspected by board officials, and there is no
mechanism of checks by third parties even at cities.
Although establishment of KIU has facilitated students in solving their
problems quickly, but this also became the source of corruption. As GB is a low
populated area and people can easily make their access to the board officials,
who would be their relatives or friends, to influence independent decisionsof
the board and to have access to the confidential files (papers). Transferring
of examination centers, submission of forms at just a day before exams through
bribes and absconding punishment is like a child’s play for influential people.
Beside this, board has dearth of employees and expert human capital,
clerks appointed for scrutiny of forms are also doing the duties of
administrators, inspectors as well as arbitrators at the same time. Paper
making is also of poor quality, and are best source of achieving high marks for
memorizer, not for intelligent student.
Although the board of FBISE is far better than that of KIU, but the
solution does not lie in closing down of existing institution. If the
credibility of our examination system is improved, it is likely to have
far-reaching results.One step to stop this decline is to completely separate
examinations functions from the management of University. An autonomous body of
professors and education experts should be created to conduct examinations
under conditions of strict vigilance and monitoring. The support of
law-enforcement agencies, may be sought to prevent cheating during exams.
Similarly, the assessment of exam papers should be done with competent teachers
and at least two examiners assigned to check each answer book.
