Matric results delayed by 15 days due to pending Sindhi paper evaluation
The delay comes at a critical juncture, as nearly 100,000 matric students have already applied for admission to government colleges through the Sindh Education Department's centralised online portal. Around 50,000 students have already been allotted seats under the Centralised Admission Policy (CAP). The postponement is expected to create complications for college placements and the academic calendar.
Sources within BSEK told The Express Tribune that the primary reason for the delay is the incomplete checking of Sindhi language papers-a compulsory subject for the Science Group.
A large number of teachers assigned to mark these papers are currently on leave outside Karachi, creating a backlog in the evaluation process. Efforts are underway to recall them, but the available workforce remains insufficient to complete the task on schedule.
The matric exams concluded on June 2. However, the result compilation process has been marred by administrative issues. The position of controller of examinations remains vacant after the board chairman removed the previous controller without legal authority, a move that contravenes the BSEK Act, which grants appointment and removal powers solely to the Chief Minister of Sindh, the board's controlling authority.
Also, all three deputy controllers remain under suspension, and the chairman has assigned the duties of the controller to an assistant controller - raising further questions about the legality of the arrangement. In the absence of a permanent examination head, concerns have been raised about transparency, governance, and the board's ability to manage its responsibilities effectively.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Express Tribune
29-07-2025
- Express Tribune
Matric results delayed by 15 days due to pending Sindhi paper evaluation
The Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) has announced a delay of around 15 days in the announcement of matriculation results for the Science Group, affecting over 180,000 students. Despite earlier assurances that results would be declared by July 31, board officials now estimate the release in the second week of August. The delay comes at a critical juncture, as nearly 100,000 matric students have already applied for admission to government colleges through the Sindh Education Department's centralised online portal. Around 50,000 students have already been allotted seats under the Centralised Admission Policy (CAP). The postponement is expected to create complications for college placements and the academic calendar. Sources within BSEK told The Express Tribune that the primary reason for the delay is the incomplete checking of Sindhi language papers-a compulsory subject for the Science Group. A large number of teachers assigned to mark these papers are currently on leave outside Karachi, creating a backlog in the evaluation process. Efforts are underway to recall them, but the available workforce remains insufficient to complete the task on schedule. The matric exams concluded on June 2. However, the result compilation process has been marred by administrative issues. The position of controller of examinations remains vacant after the board chairman removed the previous controller without legal authority, a move that contravenes the BSEK Act, which grants appointment and removal powers solely to the Chief Minister of Sindh, the board's controlling authority. Also, all three deputy controllers remain under suspension, and the chairman has assigned the duties of the controller to an assistant controller - raising further questions about the legality of the arrangement. In the absence of a permanent examination head, concerns have been raised about transparency, governance, and the board's ability to manage its responsibilities effectively.
Express Tribune
24-07-2025
- Express Tribune
Bhutto's paradoxes
Listen to article As another July 5th recedes into Pakistan's collective memory, it remains a symbolic rupture: the night when the populist experiment of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was abruptly terminated by General Zia-ul-Haq's martial law in 1977. Yet beyond the immediate tragedy of democratic collapse lies a deeper contradiction, one embodied in Bhutto himself. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto occupies a uniquely paradoxical position in Pakistan's political history. Revered by many as the architect of Pakistan's first populist revolution, and reviled by others as a feudal masquerading as a socialist, Bhutto's legacy defies simple categorisation. The contradiction between his progressive rhetoric and elite background lies at the heart of both his appeal and his failure. Bhutto rose to prominence during the waning years of Ayub Khan's "technocratic" dictatorship, a period marked by growing resentment among the middle and working classes. In 1967, he launched the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) with the electrifying slogan of Roti, Kapra Aur Makaan (bread, clothing and home), calling for radical land reforms, industrial nationalisation and workers' rights under the banner of "Islamic socialism". His early writings, including The Myth of Independence (1969), struck a defiantly anti-imperialist tone, calling for sovereignty and self-reliance in the face of global power dynamics. Stanley Wolpert portrays Bhutto as the country's first genuine populist, a man who spoke directly to the dispossessed. Yet the dissonance between Bhutto's public image and his class identity was stark. Born into a wealthy Sindhi landowning family, Bhutto was steeped in the very feudal structures he claimed to oppose. His elite education in Berkeley and Oxford further insulated him from the lived realities of the working class. Marxist sociologist Hamza Alavi would later characterise him as part of the post-colonial salariat — those whose authority derived from colonial-era bureaucratic and landholding privileges. Nowhere was this contradiction more visible than in Bhutto's land reforms. Introduced in 1972 and again in 1977, the reforms were billed as revolutionary but largely failed in implementation. Legal loopholes allowed landowners to retain vast holdings by registering them as family or religious properties. Bhutto's estates remained intact. As political economist Akbar Zaidi has argued, the reforms were more performative than redistributive, designed to satisfy leftist constituencies while preserving the socio-economic status quo. His nationalisation drive, another key pillar of his socialist platform, proved similarly flawed. Though intended to dismantle capitalist monopolies, the programme often targeted small and medium enterprises while leaving entrenched landowning elites untouched. It expanded state control but failed to democratise economic power. Corruption, inefficiency and political favouritism marred its implementation. Politically, Bhutto's government bore authoritarian hallmarks. Dissent was met with repression; opposition newspapers shuttered, student organisations such as the National Students Federation (NSF) violently suppressed, and political rivals jailed. In Can Pakistan Survive? Historian Tariq Ali argued that Bhutto's fear of genuine popular mobilisation led him to rely increasingly on the very instruments of elite power he once condemned. To understand Bhutto's paradox is to enter the realm of Antonio Gramsci's theory of passive revolution, a transformation from above that adopts revolutionary language without dismantling elite structures. Bhutto was adept at this: donning shalwar kameez to mingle with workers in Karachi, delivering fiery speeches against "capitalist exploiters", while maintaining patronage ties with Sindhi waderas and securing his feudal interests. Ayesha Jalal, in Democracy and Authoritarianism in South Asia, characterises Bhutto's rule as a blend of "patronage politics and authoritarian populism" — a balancing act between military power, landed gentry, and an urban proletariat that was never allowed to organise independently. His politics opened the door for middle and lower-class participation, yet failed to institutionalise any long-term redistribution of power. This legacy of ambivalence continues to shape Pakistan. The PPP, under Benazir Bhutto, inherited its founder's populist lexicon but not his capacity for mass mobilisation. The party remains rhetorically progressive but structurally tethered to elite interests. The deeper question Bhutto's life leaves behind is a persistent one: Can a man born into privilege truly dismantle the systems that uphold that privilege? Bhutto was not a revolutionary in the tradition of Marx, Mao or Nasser. He was a skilled orator, a master of political theatre and a shrewd tactician. But his socialism was symbolic rather than structural, and his revolution was more rhetorical than real. His story is emblematic of post-colonial populism across the Global South, where leaders deploy the language of the masses while safeguarding the interests of the few. Bhutto's contradiction was not a footnote in his political journey. It was the foundation upon which his power was built and the fault-line along which his project ultimately fractured. So, Bhutto, answering the question, claimed he could. But history suggests he did not.
Express Tribune
16-07-2025
- Express Tribune
Retailers denounce harsh tax measures
Policymakers are expected to continue improvements on tax collection side to widen the tax net by signalling reduction in corporate and salary tax by 1% per year for the next 10 years and by reducing industrial energy tariffs. photo: file Listen to article The Chainstore Association of Pakistan (CAP), which represents the country's organised retail sector, has voiced concerns over harsh tax measures and enforcement practices, particularly those introduced through the Finance Act 2025. "Retail chains in the formal sector have worked tirelessly for years to adopt technology, ensure transparent sales reporting and contribute significantly to the nation's tax revenues as well as its exports," said Asfandyar Farrukh, Chairman CAP. "Yet, we face an unsustainable environment where legitimate businesses are treated as potential offenders, subjected to arbitrary tax assessments and left exposed to daily harassment that threatens both our operations and workforce." The association noted that while formal retailers accounted for only around 10% of Pakistan's retail trade, they generated the majority of tax revenue from the sector. However, recent tax policies and enforcement actions have placed growing pressure on the industry and threaten progress in documenting the economy. "It is our considered view that, given ever-increasing revenue targets and the slow pace of broadening the tax base, some FBR field formations are using enforcement powers to impose excessive and arbitrary tax assessments and penalties on the already compliant businesses simply to boost collections," said Tariq Mehboob, Patron-in-Chief of CAP. Similarly, the SITE Association of Industry Karachi rejected the controversial Sections 37A and 37B introduced in the Finance Act, declaring that the industrial community would not tolerate such oppressive laws. SITE Association President Ahmed Azeem Alvi condemned the provisions of these laws, which granted powers to FBR officers to arrest honest taxpayers based solely on suspicion and even file FIRs.
