KARACHI: The duration of examinations of ninth till twelfth grades, which will be held in July in Sindh this year, will be two hours instead of three hours. Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani announced this as he addressed a press conference at the Sindh Assembly’s media corner on Friday.

He explained that as decided earlier in the inter-provincial education ministers' meeting, examinations will only be held for optional subjects this year, and their duration will be two hours.

Owing to the Covid-19 pandemic last year, students were promoted to next classes without exams, but this year all the provinces have unanimously decided that pupils won’t be considered pass without exams.

Ghani said that the Covid-19 situation in Sindh at present was not under control, due to which it was yet to be decided when the schools would be reopened. The government would open educational institutions gradually and step by step, he added.

The education minister also announced that the pattern of questions in the examinations would also be different this year as each examination would contain 50 per cent multiple-choice questions, 30 per cent short questions and 20 per cent long questions. In response to a query, Ghani said the government had tried to resolve the problems being faced by the stakeholders of the education sector. Last year, parents didn’t pay tuition fee, he said, adding that the situation was different in the current year.