Karachi board New passing Marks
New passing Marks We have very crucial news for the students of BISE Karachi. The Inter passing marks have been increased! In a move to aid much-needed education system reform in Sindh, IBCC announced recently that the passing marks for the intermediate part 1 and part 2 students will be increased from 33 to 40 marks.
Moreover, this decision will be implemented in the upcoming academic year, 2025. This major step is part of broader efforts of the Karachi board to enhance the educational standards across the province.
The Inter Boards Coordination Commission, IBCC, has announced a major change in the national education system. All boards of education across the country would henceforth require a minimum of seven passing marks for students.
IBCC Announces Educational Reforms
New passing Marks during a news conference, the Commission’s Executive Director Dr. Ghulam Ali Mallah explained that the commission’s last week decision of BISE Karachi inter passing marks.
He informed that this decision came about from the meeting of the sub-committee at the Karachi Secondary Education Board wherein different proposals were presented.
It was unanimously decided in the meeting that now all educational boards in Sindh had to adapt to the new inter-passing marks criteria. The meeting of its sub-committee at the Karachi Secondary Education Board considered different proposals to upgrade academic standards.
Moreover in the upcoming academic year, the passing marks of students will be increased from 33 to 40. The development came during a press conference by the Executive Director of IBCC, Dr. Ghulam Ali Mallah on Tuesday.
There was no development in this regard on the part of officials of the Department of Universities and Boards. Boards cannot make such major decisions alone,” he added.
It is pertinent to mention herein that hundreds of thousands of matric and inter students in Sindh would be placed at a disadvantage in case the government education boards in Sindh lagged and failed to implement the new grading policy simultaneously.
The fact is that when graduates from other provinces apply for university admission after two years, their results shall reflect the GPA as per the new grading policy which needs at least 40 marks for passing. Nevertheless, the students of Sindh will keep having the old system of passing papers with at least 33 marks.
More so, Grace Marks Will Also Be Introduced
Announced Marks increasing the Karachi Board inter passing marks, Dr. Ghulam Ali Mallah added that grace marks for the students were also being introduced.
This move is part of the plan to carry out educational reforms aimed at helping the students in their studies.
He further said that the format of exams would be changed from open-choice to close-choice, giving 100 percent options to students in the exams to make the assessment process more standardized and fair.
The said initiative was part of the greater educational reform, which, he mentioned, included providing grace marks to the students in exams to help transition into fulfilling the requirements. The grading policy has been proposed on the lines of O and A-Levels of Cambridge Assessment International Education.
It is to be implemented gradually for the assessment of the 2024 matric and inter-annual examinations throughout the country. However, no preparation for this policy has been so far initiated in the education boards of Sindh.
This will keep them behind students of the other three provinces, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, who are expected to get results under the new grading policy.
Implementation Challenges in Sindh
New passing Marks despite the country-wide clearance of a new grading policy for classes at matric and intermediate levels, the implementation in Sindh has faced delays.
This has been attributed to a lack of interest shown by the concerned authorities.
In this regard, the Federal Ministry of Education in its letter dated 6th March 2024 addressed to the concerned Department of Universities and Boards Government of Sindh.
The letter conveyed that a new grading system was to be implemented by them along with synchronization of the new passing marks at 40 marks for all the educational boards. The new minimum passing marks at inter have been announced recently by Sindh educational boards. Federal Ministry of Education formally sent a letter to the Department of Universities and Boards Government of Sindh on 6th March.
The letter, while highlighting the serious implementation of the new grading system, has ordered making the new grading system at par with passing marks at 40 for all educational boards.
This directive is in line with the decision approved by the Inter Board Coordination Commission – an organization of chairmen of education boards across the country – in November 2022.
The implementation of this decision was further approved at the Interprovincial Education Ministers’ Conference held on December 22, 2023.
The Express Tribune contacted Universities and Boards Secretary Noor Samu for comments, but there was no response.
Uniform Passing Marks Across Pakistan
Karachi board minimum passing marks for board exams for classes 9-12 have already been enhanced in the rest of the provinces of Pakistan. Now Sindh, too, has toed the line, which implies that the increase in inter-passing marks will begin with the incoming academic year of 2025 to provide a level playing field across the country.
The new policy aims to raise quality and prepare students for higher academic challenges that lie ahead.
The salient development under this new policy is its staged implementation, which will first be implemented in classes IX and XI through their examinations and results.
Under the new policy, the passing marks for subjects will be increased from 33 to 40, and those obtaining at least 40 marks will be declared successful. It would turn into a CGPA after three years, showing only grades on the mark sheets of the students.
Even though the education boards in the other three provinces have started making preparations for the new grading system, there is no sign of readiness in Sindh.
While there is no GPA System yet for matriculation and intermediate exams, following the decision taken by the IBCC to implement it for the academic session, Ziauddin Board Sindh issued a notification for conducting the 2024 annual examinations on a private basis.
In contrast, Sindh’s governmental education boards appear to be unprepared to introduce this change, taking into consideration the financial burden placed upon students for privately conducted annual examinations.
“No board in Sindh has a permanent controller of examinations and neither the board secretary is working permanently.
Boards suffer from ad-hocism at its worst, which makes it impossible to implement a decision of such magnitude that also requires the training of the assessment teachers as well,” a board chairman informed The Express Tribune requesting anonymity.