Hundreds of Inter Students receive 1100/1100 Marks! Is it Merit or a Mistake? 

The outcome of BISE (Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education) has been shocking to say the least. Out of the total attainable marks for the BISE 2021 examination, dozens of students (more than 50 in Lahore at least) have received  the maximum marks i.e 1100/1100. 

These results were not well received with the public. On social media, students made fun of the results, as can be seen below, with the hashtag #intermediateresult2021 trending on various social media platforms.

 

The student above shared his distaste by sharing a number stating more than “600 students in Punjab” received 1100/1100 (this information has not been verified). This post garnered a vast response, ranging from 56 retweets, and over 650 likes. 

On the other hand,  some students coped with the news using humor. Below, a student shared a meme of Elon Musk calling the topper students for a Mars project due to their high scores in the examination. 

Above, another student took to social media to share her thoughts on the matter, comparing the results with the MDCAT results, “already controversial”, “unfair”, and “unequal grace marks were given to students”, asking for justice for the matter through hashtags. 

There were also hundreds of more students receiving marks close to the maximum 1100. These numbers were shocking to educators, school administration and instructors alike; appalled that students who were unable to attend in-person schooling for more than a year- taught with unreliable and inexperienced online learning methodologies- were able to score such high marks for their intermediate examinations. 

Still, these sources do not clearly indicate if the cause of these topping grades was foul-play/ mismanagement by the testing bodies or truly merit. It is again, likely, and needs to be considered if the reason for the perfect scores could be due to hard work, and dedication. 

Such news is rampant in Pakistan’s educational scene with the PMC MDCAT a recent and pressing example, with internet connectivity issues as per PMC practice tests, incorrect answer keys, out-of-syllabus questions and operational issues with the online TEPS conducted exams. We do not know confirmed for now if the cause for these perfect scores was merit or foul-play, but we do know one thing for certain: at Nearpeer, we try to do our best to better the educational scene in Pakistan, as well as provide affordable, engaging online education to catalyse true, active learning and change. Check out our courses and allow yourself to be transformed by the new era of education. Good luck and happy learning.