Report: Masood Anwar
A shocking revelation has exposed an organized conspiracy behind the recent anti-education hostility faced by matric and intermediate students in Karachi.
This year, countless students were denied admission to medical and engineering colleges hatching conspiracy. Among them were students who had secured positions in the matriculation examinations, but these students were initially marked as failed in various first-year intermediate papers, or their percentages were significantly reduced due to unusually low marks in several subjects.
The situation escalated further when the MD CAT paper was leaked by anti-education mafia before the entry test, casting doubt on the integrity of the entire examination system. This was not an isolated incident. The Karachi Papers has uncovered the heinous conspiracy behind these events in an exclusive, fact-based story.
Once, the quality of education in Karachi was considered exemplary across the entire country. A second-division student from Karachi was regarded as superior to a first-division student from other educational boards in the country. There was no concept of group copying in exams, unlike in other parts of Sindh, where copying was commonplace.
With the rise of MQM as the political power in Karachi, a dark era for education began, and copying became a lucrative business. The dream of easy money for armed groups become true as they extorted money from candidates in exchange for providing copying facilities.
This heinous crime against education was carried out by MQM in areas predominantly inhabited by Mohajirs or Urdu-speaking populations, by Baloch gangsters in Lyari, by ANP in Pashtun areas, and by the Jaya Sindh Party in Sindhi-majority areas, with each group extorting millions of rupees.
As armed groups turned copying into a regular business, corrupt officers within the Sindh government were also drawn into it and they began participating in this illicit trade. Initially, they started by selling positions to schools within the Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK). Private schools used to engage in auctions to secure top positions for their students to attract parents to flourish their school business day and night.
Subsequently, frontmen and gangsters expanded their reach to the education boards, where after selling positions, grades began to be sold out as well. Coaching centers also entered in this auction to boost their business. As a result, heads of Board of Intermediate Karachi (BIEK) and Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) controller examinations began earning millions of rupees overnight.
Seeing this, other officers of the bureaucracy lured and the race and a race to get appointment in the education boards began. A market for these appointments was soon set up at the Chief Minister’s House and the Governor’s House, marking the beginning of a new era of misfortune for the citizens of Karachi.
Just as police stations are sold, appointments for one year term were made against hefty bribe and this further deteriorated the quality of education in Karachi, but yet the situation remained somewhat under control, as the common man still had trust in the Karachi education boards.
The Mafias further devised a plan for permanent income with this disgusting business and for this purpose, the Sindh Assembly granted permissions to influentials figures to establish private education boards. It is important to note that one of the owners of these private boards is a close and blue eyed of Bilawal House.
In order to attract students and their parents to these private boards, it was become vital to erode parents’ confidence in the education boards of Karachi. This effort has now been set in motion with meticulous planning.
In the first phase, the most incompetent and corrupt officers were appointed to the education boards of Karachi, and these officers were given free rein to operate without restraint. The consequences of this were evident this year, as countless bright students of Karachi were denied admission to medical and engineering colleges.
According to educationists, the result of all this will be that parents will turn to these non-government boards for the sake of their children’s future. Initially, these private boards will conduct exams at very low fees, but once the BSEK and BIEK become as inefficient as the Pakistan Post Office, they will have the freedom to impose arbitrary fees.
Educationist believe that, just like the Cambridge board fees are beyond the reach of the middle and lower classes, there will come a time when the fees of these private boards will be unaffordable for the poor and middle class, leading to a significant decline in the literacy rate in Karachi.
