Lahore: The Punjab Board Committee of Chairmen (PBCC), a body representing all the eight education boards of the province, has recommended to the government to increase pass marks of matriculation and intermediate exams from existing 33 percent to 40 percent.
The new condition, if approved by the government, would be applicable to the students appearing in matriculation and intermediate annual examinations 2010.
The recommendation was made in the PBCC meeting held at the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE), Gujranwala, on Tuesday. Chairmen/representatives of all the BISEs attended the meeting while chairperson of Bahawalpur Board Mrs Bilquees Akram chaired the session.
The committee also announced examination fee waiver for all the disabled appearing in board exams, besides approving syndicate marking of papers.
The PBCC recommended the new pass percentage to the Punjab government which, after approval, would take up the matter with the federal government for its implementation.
The meeting observed that since most part of a question paper comprised objective type, including short questions, there was a need of increasing the pass percentage from existing 33 percent to 40 percent.
A participant of the meeting said since 20 percent portion of papers comprised objective type, 50 percent short questions and 30 percent of subjective type there was need of rationalising the pass percentage accordingly. He said the meeting agreed to recommend 40 percent pass marks. He, however, said during a recent meeting with officials of various boards, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had also suggested increase in pass marks.
Elaborating the syndicate system of marking, a BISE chairman said it was totally different from traditional marking in which an examiner used to check entire answer book of a candidate of a particular subject. However, under the syndicate marking, each question would be marked by a different paper-checker, he said, giving example that if a question paper comprised of five questions, each would be marked by a different paper-checker to ensure that a candidate might not be at disadvantage owing to "monotonous" mindset of a particular paper-checker. He said the decision about syndicate marking would be implemented from matriculation and intermediate supplementary exams 2009.
A senior official of another BISE was of the view the availability of paper-checkers was a real issue faced by all the boards, saying the boards had to face troubles in this regard every year. He said the government should address the issue.
The Monday's meeting waived off examination fee for all the disabled which was earlier extended only to the deaf and dumb. The meeting also made another important decision according to which examination centres for the disabled would always be set up on ground floor, etc for their convenience.
It is pertinent to mention here that the chief minister had already announced examination fee waiver for the students sitting in exams conducted by the BISEs across the province. However, a final decision is yet to be made in this regard as the move would have huge financial implication for the government each year if the facility is extended to all candidates. The News
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