KIU vs SSC and HSSC examination board
Prof. Dr. Attaullah Shah Vice Chancellor Karakoram International University-Gilgit Baltistan
The recent notification of Education department of GB regarding affiliation of the schools and colleges with Federal Board of Secondary and Intermediate Education FBISE has created unrest in the faculty and majority of schools and colleges teachers as well as parents of students. The Faculty, staff, and students of KIU strongly reacted to the decision and immediately had meetings with Chief Minister, Minister and Secretary Education, members of legislative assembly etc to convince them to withdraw the decision in the best interests of the KIU and people of GB
I believe the whole issue is mishandled by the vested interests. I think KIU is not an ordinary university. It has demographic, geographic and financial challenges. In demographic landscape it's is the symbol of unity for all people of GB with different religious political and ethnic backgrounds. As a sample of unity, it has been integrating all people of GB.
At the geographic and territorial challenges, it has been doing a great job to reach and provide access to education at the nook and corner of GB.
At the financial front, the majority of students come from remote and poorest backgrounds. Hence assigning the role of External Examination Systems to KIU after a well-thought process to handle all these issues with an aim to bring integration and sustainability to KIU. For years KIU has been dealing with challenges in the best way.
The data of KIU exam also served as a research for KIU students from the Faculty of Education.
Now coming to the challenges of Exam's quality, there are definitely some issues which can be sorted out through consultation with stakeholders. It is unfortunate that the standards of examination board have gone down at all levels throughout the country. Again the poor quality of education at schools and colleges in the country has seriously impacted the quality of students and their intellectual capacity. To address these challenges, VC KIU has already constituted the major committee comprising of all major stakeholders and subcommittees on the paper setting, conduct, and assessment under the chairmanship of Deans. It is expected that the committee will come up with their recommendations soon. The major focus will be on improvement of systems, human resource, and facilities. It cannot be guaranteed that shifting the examination to the federal board can bring any qualitative improvements, as conducting exams in remote areas is always a challenge. This was shared by the chairman board FBISE with VC in his meeting last day at Islamabad. This process will seriously damage the integrity and financial sustainability of KIU, as with its meager resources and very subsidized fee structure, it will be difficult for KIU to survive. In case KIU has to increase its fee by 3 times, it will not be bearable for the majority of students to pay. The plan of KIU to double its enrolment in 4 years up to 8000 will not be possible. It is very unfortunate that few people are looking at two things independently. With KIU in serious economic troubles, the highly qualified Faculty and staff were not able to retain. This will create a vicious circle of poor quality and the graduates of GB will not be compatible with other parts of the country. This will further restrict the intellectual growth of the region and subnational and anti-state elements will promote while capitalizing on the frustrated youth. The issue may be addressed in a holistic way.
Now discussing the way forward once we are resolved that the existence of KIU external Exam system is inevitable for its survival, we can discuss the way forward.
- Giving to KIU Board more autonomy under the umbrella of KIU with its independent staff and Controller of Exam working as it's Secretary. VC KIU to be its chairman.
- Based on the feedback from the committees revamping the systems, processes, and infrastructure of the KIU Board.
- Human Resource Development of staff, examiners, paper setters, front desk staff etc.
- Automation of all Exams related processes with min reaction time and preferably online real-time-based.
- A strong feedback and survey system will be developed to address the complaints and quarries of stakeholders.
- Special training of the teachers of schools and colleges through Faculty of education in the areas of pedagogy, delivery, and assessment. They will also be trained in various areas of exams
- A periodic review and quality control system can be developed as per standards adopted by FBISE and Aga Khan Education Board.
Societies always work with indigenous institutions to strengthen it to come up with the solutions to meet their expectations. Shifting the Exam from one board to other board can only serve the interest of few persons but in the long run, it will seriously dent the integrity of institutions in GB. The disaster consequent to this unplanned decision will be unmatched, long-standing and irreparable. The KIU team would request the policymakers, GB Govt and legislature to think again about the issues and it's solutions. A decision made in haste and without consulting the major stakeholders will have serious repercussions on the GB society. The society presently in the state of fragile peace can be exposed to serious challenges in wake of destabilizing an institution of high prestige.