KARACHI:TheannualSecondary School Certificate (SSC) exams for Class IX and X will commence from Tuesday (tomorrow) in 499 examination centres across the city.

A total of 375,000 students will sit for the regular and private examinations of the Science and General Groups.

According to Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) chairman Ghulam Hussain Soho, this year, the board has issued computerised online admit cards to all the stu-dents ofninth and tenth classes.

The list of the 499 examination centres in government and private schools, of which 256 are for boys and 243 are for girls, has also been released on BSEK`s official website.

The newly-appointed BSEK chairman said this during a meeting in his office, which was also attended by the Secretary Board Dr Naveed Ahmed and the Controller of Examinations Zaheeruddin Bhutto and others.

It was also said that there are19 hub centres established in the 18 different towns of Karachi, where the board officers will be responsible for distributing the examination papers.

Meanwhile, all the exam centres have been told to clearly display the examination rules. Any electronic device or mobile phones are strictlyprohibited inside the exam halls and will be confiscated if found in possession of any candidate. They should also be carefulnot to be carrying any copied or cheating material.

`We have issued letters to the Commissioner Karachi, DG Rangers, Additional IG, Director Education Karachi, Director Private Schools Sindh and other departments regarding foolproof arrangements to impose Section 144 at the examination centres, under which external interference will be prohibited in these centres and photostat machines operating nearby them will remain switched off during the exams,` said the board chairman.

He also said that a reporting cell will be established in the Board Office to monitor the exams, wheretheir special teams will remain vigilant.

He added that an effective system has been created for the delivery of examination papers, which will be delivered by the board officers to the hub centres from where the centre superintendents or their representatives will receive the sealed papers along with the authority letter to then deliver them to the examination centres.

Later, the school superintendents or their representatives will deliver the answer copies to the board as soon as possible.

The vigilance officers will reach the examination centres daily, half an hour before the examination begins, and will remain there for the entire duration of the examination.

They will monitor the students to prevent cheating and compile theirreports daily, which will be submitted to the reporting cell established at the board.

The BSEK chairman further said that the vigilance officers will sign the sealed envelopes in his presence.

He added that the government is making a collective effort to prevent cheating through coordination between the district administration and the board.

He said that cooperation is being sought from all institutions for conducting transparent examinations on the instructions of the Sindh government.

It was also mentioned that the board has made a written request to the K-Electric to avoid load shedding during the exams so that the students can sit for their papers in a comfortable environment.-By Shazia Hasan