Sindh cabinet awards grace marks to 1st-year students

KARACHI: The Sindh cabinet on Tuesday approved awarding gracing marks to first-year students of the Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK) who failed their annual exams, ARY News reported.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah presided over hours-long cabinet meeting during which several key decisions were made, including granting grace marks to first-year students of the Karachi educational board, banning all types of plastic shopping bags, approving rules to monitor habitual offenders with electronic devices, such as anklets and bracelets, the establishment of a Centre for Excellence on Countering Violent Extremism was agreed upon to address issues of violent extremism.

The University & Board (U&D) department reported on a sharp decline in passing percentages for Class XI results in 2024 from the Board of Intermediate Education, Karachi.

On January 13, 2025, the Sindh Assembly formed a Special Committee, headed by Education Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah, to investigate this decline. They created a Sub-Committee, led by Dr. Sarosh H. Lodi, Vice Chancellor of NED University, to conduct a detailed inquiry.

The Sub-Committee’s main recommendations include granting grace marks to all students: 20% in Chemistry and 15% each in Physics and Mathematics. The Chief Minister has also directed reforms to improve Board operations and prevent such issues in the future. While the Sindh Boards Ordinance of 1972 does not allow for grace marks, a similar measure was approved by the caretaker chief minister in 2023 based on a previous inquiry.

The chief minister expressing displeasure in the educational boards directed the chief secretary to constitute a committee comprising up-right officers to conduct inquiry against irregularities in all the educational boards across Sindh and report him.

The cabinet observed that environmental protection includes measures to prevent pollution and preserve ecological balance. The cabinet approved the amended Sindh Prohibition of Non-degradable Plastic Products Rules, 2014, to potentially ban the manufacturing, sale, and use of all plastic shopping bags in the province, including non-degradable and oxo-degradable types. This ban will take effect sixty days after the cabinet’s approval.