Karachi: The school education and literacy department’s (SELD) steering committee on Tuesday fixed dates for the commencement of the new academic year, annual examinations, summer and winter vacations, and admissions to schools and colleges.
The meeting was chaired by the Sindh Education Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah. It was attended by SELD Secretary Ghulam Akbar Leghari, College Education Secretary Khalid Haider Shah, and other stakeholders who discussed the agenda related to the academic year 2022-23, including annual exams, extracurricular activities, and vacations.
At the beginning of the meeting, the minutes of the previous meeting were presented for approval. They were unanimously approved. It was decided that annual exams from the fourth till the sixth grades would be held from May 2 onwards, and the ninth and tenth examinations would start on May 17.
The matriculation results would be announced on July 17. The chairmen of various educational boards assured the education minister that they would prepare the results within two months after the examinations.
The meeting also decided that the examination papers would consist of 40 percent multiple-choice questions and 60 percent detailed questions. Leghari informed the meeting that the department would soon provide optical mark recognition (OMR) machines to all the boards so that they could prepare results and minimize the risk of errors in a timely manner. He said the education department would conduct training workshops for board employees in which they would be taught the effective use of OMR machines.
The summer vacations in all the educational institutions would be held from June 1 till July 31. Admissions to higher schools would take place from July 1 till July 31. Classes for the new academic year in schools would commence on August 1. The winter holidays would be observed from December 22 till December 31.
Regarding the Intermediate examinations, the meeting decided that they would start on June 15. The college education secretary said that as soon as the boards announced the results of the Intermediate exams, the department would issue a detailed admission policy.
