Sindh not to follow Shafqat Mehmood's exam schedule: Saeed Ghani

• Sindh not to follow exam schedule announced by Shafqat Mehmood says Saeed Ghani.
• Says exam schedule for Sindh will be announced by the provincial educational department within the next few days.
• Says govt will ensure coronavirus standard operating procedures (SOPs) are strictly followed during exams.

KARACHI: Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani on Wednesday said that the examination schedule announced by the Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mehmood earlier today is not for Sindh.

Speaking during a press conference in Karachi, the minister said the examination schedule for Sindh will be announced by the provincial educational department within the next few days. 

The minister added that while conducting the exams, the government will ensure that coronavirus standard operating procedures (SOPs) are strictly followed. 

Ghani added that the Sindh government will follow the decisions taken during the Inter-Provincial Education Ministers Conference (IPEMC) today — implying that the province would also assess grades nine and matric based on elective subjects and math, while grades 11 and 12 will only be assessed on the basis of electives.

'No promotion without exam'

Earlier in the day, Shafqat Mehmood had announced students of matric and ninth across the country would be assessed on the basis of elective subjects and math this year.

The minister, explaining the decision during a press conference in Islamabad, said only four exams, including math for ninth and matric, will be conducted. These include biology, computer science, physics, and chemistry.

No student would be awarded grades without attempting examinations this year, the education minister stressed, adding: "If we do not conduct the exams, then students will not even employ minimum efforts to study."

According to the education ministry, Mehmood's press conference came after he chaired a meeting of the provincial education ministers and officials from the education departments.

The minister said the exams of elective subjects will be conducted as students aspiring to opt for a selected field could be assessed on the basis of their elective subjects.

The education minister said boards were preparing to conduct exams from June 24, and now, to facilitate students, we have asked them to begin examinations after July 10.

"We have also asked boards to keep some gap between the exams," he said, as he explained the government had taken several steps to ease the process on the students as the educational institutions could not complete the course work.

The education minister said exams of classes 10 and 12 would be conducted first — from July 10 — and the examinations of classes 9 and 11 will be conducted once they end.