KIU vs SSC and HSSC examination board
Written By : Riaz Hussain
A
great step taken by govt of Gilgit-Baltistan to emancipate secondary and higher
secondary examination board from Karakorum international university examination
system which the later is using only as a source of income for University. We
don’t have any concern about the role of KIU in imparting education to the poor
students of GB who otherwise would not move to big cities because of either
financial restraints or other reasons especially female students. And there is
no doubt about the credibility of highly qualified faculty of KIU including
nearly 100 PhDs.
But, there qualities of KIU have
nothing especial to do with running a secondary and higher secondary
examination board. The faculty of KIU is supposed to teach the graduates and
their teaching instructions, methodologies, syllabus, text books and assessment
system is totally different from SSC and HSSC. Both levels require different
approaches and expertise. That is the reason the board has been facing challenges
since its beginning. But, yes, it is a bountiful source of income for the
university administration as it produces only profit without investment.
Secondly, job of an examination board is
just to conduct exams and prepare results providing logistic and clerical
support to the students, teachers and administration of schools and colleges. A
board is not directly involved in the curriculum setting, syllabus designing,
text books publications, teaching instructions, teacher’s trainings or any
other teaching and learning process in the classroom which improves the quality
of education and results of students.
A
board result basically reflects students, teachers’ and institution’s result.
So blaming a board for poor result or eulogizing for higher percentages is not
reasonable. They only provide logistical and clerical support to the process of
examinations. Students are taught by teacher, papers are set by teachers, exam
duties are performed by teachers, papers are assesses by teacher and even
results are prepared by respective teacher ; board only assign exam duties ,
compiles and announces the results.
So, it is not wise enough hopping that
after affiliation with other board, the quality of education in govt schools
and colleges would be improved. Rather, I hope the rest of private schools
affiliated with KIU board would improve the percentage of board result after
govt institutions separation. I remember that AKHSSs were once affiliated with
KIU board but that did not influence the quality of teaching and learning at
these prestigious institutes.
The affiliation with FBISE would add to
the sufferings of students instead and a huge amount of money would be driven
out of GB. What provincial govt must do is to establish a separate board -not
necessarily naming ‘Karakorum board’ as we already have Karakorum: university,
Bank, movement, federation and organizations. This will produce more job
opportunities in the region and the ones who are already working for years with
KIU board will share their experiences with the new ones and better if few from
other boards in country should be hired at initial stages.