Karachi: In a shift from its previous year's practice of accepting forms even during the examination, the Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) has decided to stop accepting any form for the SSC (Class IX & X) exams 2010 after March 18, five days before the starting date.

BSEK Chairman Anzar Hussain Zaidi said on Wednesday that the decision had been taken to avoid the problems that had cropped up last year. He said no extension in the date for the submission of forms would be given.

He was briefing newsmen in the board's conference room about the arrangements made for the examinations. The board's Secretary, Ms Hoor Mazhar, and Controller of Examinations Kalim Asghar Kirmani were also present.

Mr Zaidi said that more than 300,000 candidates had been registered for the examinations and 431 centres (241 for boys and 190 for girls) set up for them at various government and private schools.

He said that the board had requested to the Sindh home department to ensure proper security arrangements at and around the centres in order to maintain law and order.

To ensure the holding of the exams in a transparent manner and checking use of unfair means by candidates, the BSEK had set up more than 100 vigilance committees, he said, adding that the provincial education secretary and he himself would monitor the exam process.

He said that among the registered candidates, 160,000 would appear in Class X and 110,000 in Class IX exams in Science group. More than 33,000 regular candidates would appear in Class X exams and 32,000 regular candidates in Class IX in General group.

In addition, about 14,500 candidates would take their Class X and IX examination as private candidates, he added.

Mr Zaidi said that an 'examination reporting cell' had been set up at the board's office to immediately attend any complaint received from examination centres.

Replying to a question, Mr Zaidi said that the Class-X marks sheets carrying the candidate's photograph would be introduced from next year.