KARACHI: Secondary School Certificate examinations being held under the Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) got under way at some 79 examination centres throughout the city on Tuesday.

The morning shift, from 9.30am to 12.30pm, saw general, regular and private students of class 10 sit for their Arabic, Persian, Home Economics and Braille papers.

The centres were paid surprise visits by various vigilance teams. BSEK Chairman Prof Dr Saeeduddin also visited a couple of centres — Moonlight Government Boys Secondary School in New Karachi and Government Comprehensive Girls School in North Nazimabad. Appreciating the staff and teachers, especially centre superintendents, centre coordinators and the vigilance teams, he said they all would have to remain alert to ensure a cheating-free environment during the exams.

“I was glad to have received no reports about any cheating today. They didn’t even find any cheating material on the students on searching them before entering the exam centres, which makes it look like the students have decided to pass the exam honestly by studying hard as it should be,” he said, adding that they had set up a reporting cell in the BSEK office for receiving complaints about cheating during the exams.