Karachi :The recent rise in the charges for various services offered by the Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK) has irked the students, especially those from the lower-middle and lower classes, who will be affected the most by the change in the fees structures. BIEK officials believe, however, that these increments were essential to meet various expenses because the Board has no other source of earning.

According to a notification BIE/ADMIN (ESTB) CIR/402/2009 - issued on July 02, the Board has doubled the fees (from Rs150 to Rs300) for various disciplines. Students will have to pay the new amount for permission fee, benefit case, change of group, regularisation permission, gap permission, first year repeats, and old cases as penalty per year.

A second notification, BIE/ADMIN/ (ESTB)/CIR/703/ 2009, was issued on the same date to increase the service charges of other disciples. In this notification, BIEK officials have proposed the rates for the issuance of certificates, marks sheets, IT certificates, migration certificates, duplicate documents, scrutiny fees, verification of miscellaneous documents, and special arrangement for practical examinations.

In another notification, BIE/ADMIN (ESTB)/CIR/319/ 2009, issued on August 19, the Board has decided to collect Rs1,170, instead of Rs780 as the registration fee, and Rs300 as the fee for old cases as a penalty per year, which was Rs100 annually.

The most recent notification, BIE/ADMIN (ESTB) CIR/388/2009, said that examination fees for HSC Part-I or II for pre-medical, engineering, science, general, humanities and commerce groups (involving practical) is now Rs900 instead of Rs600.

Meanwhile, the fee for the commerce and humanities group without practicals is set at Rs855, while the old fee was Rs570. The Board will collect Rs1,695 for pre-medical, engineering, science, general, humanities and commerce groups (involving practical) from the students of HSC Part-I and II combined, or Part-II with any failed paper of Part-I, or for students who are reappearing in Part-I and II exams; the old fee was Rs1,130.

Furthermore, the charges for the commerce and humanities groups without practicals were raised from Rs1,060 to Rs1,590. The Board has also changed the fee structure of the home economics group. Rs900 will now be collected for HSC Part-I (the old fee was Rs600). For students of Part-II, the fee will be Rs975, instead of Rs570; students of HSC Part-I only or Part-II (including those who are reappearing in Part-I and II exams) will have to pay Rs1,590, whereas they were paying Rs1,060 in the past.

Meanwhile, BIEK Chairman Anwar Ahmed Zai has claimed said that this is the first fee increment after 2006. However, the chairman, who took charge of the Board in late 2006, had increased fees in 2007, under the notification titled BIE/ADMIN (ESTT)/ N&O/694/2007, issued on July 31, 2007.

Zai also justified the increase in fees by saying that other Boards change the fee structure every year, but the BIEK does not follow that pattern. The BIEK has just increased 20 per cent of the last fee structure, he said. The Board is paying a handsome amount for the services of examiners, assessors, checkers, codifier and others. The BIEK also has to deal with matters such as gratuity funds for retired employees. There are a number of reasons for the recent fee increment. THE NEWS