Students allege corruption is rife in the board and say the administration has turned bribery into business
Students across Sanghar, Shahdadpur, Shahpur Chakar and Sakrand districts staged demonstrations against the recently announced Class XI results of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Shaheed Benazirabad, accusing the administration of mismanagement and manipulation.
Shaheed Benazirabad (SBA) division, along with Sukkur and Larkana divisions, had adopted e-marking for Secondary School Certificate (SSC) Part One and High School Certificate (HSC) Part One results, which were announced on Tuesday. The Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Shaheed Benazirabad (BISESBA) Chairman, Dr. Asif Ali Memon, stated that the e-tag system was a great achievement.
However, the results, like the election results in the country, did not go down well with the students. Students from different districts of Shaheed Benazirabad took to the streets to protest against the automated results which involved minimal human interaction.
In Sanghar, students of Pir Syed Sabghatullah Shah Shaheed Government Degree College boycotted classes and marched on the streets. The protesters, including Abdul Jabbar Mari, Abdul Rahman Laghari, Siraj Wassan, Farhan Laghari, Sarfraz Bugti, Latif Bugti, Arsalan Jatt, Ammar Lander, Abdul Hameed Bugti and Ayan Ali Jatt, said they were ordinary students who had performed well in university tests and written strong answers in the exams.
They told the media that despite their achievements, the board’s incompetence had ruined their future. With the marks awarded to them, they claimed that they would not be able to secure admission in any university. The students said the board was experimenting at their expense.
The students claimed that corruption was rife in the board and that the administration had turned bribery into a business. They rejected the results and demanded the immediate removal of the chairman and the controller and a re-check of the papers.
Similar protests broke out in Shahdadpur district, where students of Govt Boys Degree College, led by Nasir Khuso, Younus Sanjrani and Roshan Khaskheli, gathered outside the press club. They shouted slogans against the board and rejected the results alleging widespread manipulation. Protesters claimed that even meritorious students had been let down by being awarded low grades.
In Sakrand, hundreds of students expressed anger after the annual results were announced. Ninth and eleventh graders said the marks awarded in several papers were far below expectations, threatening to waste an entire academic year. Students of Govt Degree College Sakrand marched from their campus to Sahafi Chowk shouting slogans and demanding transparency and re-control.
At Govt Boys Higher Secondary School Campus, Panhal Khan Chandio, students and teachers also participated in the demonstrations. A rally was held from the school to the MPA house in Panhal Khan Chandio village. Protesters demanded that the board chairman personally intervene, order re-checking of papers and probe the entire marking system to remedy alleged injustices.
The protests continued for several hours and drew support from civil society and educators, who called the students’ demands legitimate and called for immediate reforms to the board’s review process.
In Shahpur Chakar, students organized a rally from their college to the local press club and raised slogans against the board. They accused the administration of deliberately giving low grades to block their access to higher education. “The board has committed a grave injustice. By giving us fewer marks, they have conspired to close the doors of higher education,” the students said.
Protesters appealed to the Sindh Chief Minister, Education Minister and senior officials to order re-checking of all answer sheets and ensure transparency in the evaluation system.
