KARACHI – The Sindh governor has sent the Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) chairman on a month-long ‘forced’ leave and temporarily appointed the Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK) chairman in his place just 20 days before the start of the annual examinations 2011.
On Tuesday, Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan – the controlling authority – issued a notification appointing BIEK Chairman Anwar Ahmed Zai as BSEK chairman in place of Anzar Hussain Zaidi. Governor’s House officials said that Zaidi had refused to conduct the annual examinations due to domestic problems and sought a month-long leave.
However, Zaidi claims that the move is a conspiracy against him. Talking to Pakistan Today, Zaidi said that the Sindh governor forced him to minimise the number of examination centres from 436 to 170 and allow two students on one bench in the upcoming secondary board examinations. “The governor ordered me to make this plan a reality just two months before the examinations which was not possible,” he said.
“I discussed the plan with the board administration and held a mock exam on March 25 to evaluate the governor’s suggestion, but it was finally decided that plan could not be adopted this year,” he said, adding, “I conveyed the message of the board management to the governor and apologized for the non-implementation of the plan, but he forcibly sent me on a long leave.”
Zaidi further said that the governor later called BIEK Chairman Anwar Ahmed Zai to his office to discuss the strategy for this year’s annual exams and the latter agreed to implement the plan. “I requested the governor to extend the number of centres from 170 to at least 250 this year and it could be further reduced to 150 in the next year’s examinations, but he refused to accept this,” he added.
When contacted, BIEK Chairman Anwar Ahmed Zai claimed that there is no conspiracy in this move and it would be a challenge for him to conduct the exams with 170 centres. The governor’s press secretary, Wajahat Ali said that Zaidi wrote an application for a month-long leave and the controlling authority has accepted it.
Ali was of the view that the BSEK chairman was unable to deal with the burden of the examinations and went on a long leave to save himself the trouble.
