KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has decided to get mobile phone jammers installed around examination centres and also to ban carrying mobile phones by students in examination halls.

He also warned invigilators that anyone found allowing the use of unfair means in the examination would be terminated then and there.

Presiding over a meeting to evolve a strategy to prevent students from using unfair means in the forthcoming matriculation and intermediate examinations on Friday, the CM also decided to seek cooperation from parents to stop students from cheating. This was not only the responsibility of the government, educational boards, examiners and invigilators, but `it is also our collective responsibility`.

He also made it clear to the boards that if any question paper was leaked, the board concerned would be hold responsible and strict action would be taken against it.

Earlier, briefing the meeting, universities and boards secretary Naveed Shaikh said there were seven boards of education in Sindh, including the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) of Larkana, Sukkur, Shaheed Benazirabad, Hyderabad and that of Mirpurkhas and the Board of Secondary Education (BSE) Karachi, Board of Intermediate Education (BIE) Karachi.

He said the secondary school certificate (SSC) examinations would start throughout Sindh on March 28 and end on April 8. Higher secondary certificate (HSC) examinations would begin on April 28 and end on May 15.

He said that 685,672 candidates would appear in IX and X examinations while 504,907 in XI and XII examinations. For the examinations of class IX and X, 330 centres have been set up in Karachi, 227 in Hyderabad, 211 in Sukkur, 135 in Larkana and 128 in Mirpurkhas, according to him.