Punjab Boards to Move Paper Checking Online With On-Screen Marking Pilot
Punjab’s examination boards are set to replace physical paper checking with on-screen marking, starting with a pilot for the supplementary examinations. Answer scripts will be scanned into secure digital records and assigned electronically to authorised examiners on a controlled online platform, on the direction of Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat.
The move is aimed at cutting marking errors and improving accountability in the province’s examination system, according to The Express Tribune.
Safeguards in the on-screen marking plan
The proposed system comes with strict checks. Examiners’ identities will be verified, with facial recognition among the options on the table, and time limits per script will create a digital audit trail of who marked what and how long it took. Examiners found involved in incorrect marking will face action.
The controlled platform means scripts can no longer sit in piles at markers’ homes, long a weak point in the manual system where papers were lost, delayed or marked inconsistently.
On-screen marking: a reform years in the making
The pilot is the first concrete step in a reform the Punjab government has been promising for months. In September, Hayat announced that manual checking would be abolished entirely from next year and replaced with on-screen marking across the province, saying transparent examinations and accountability for poor results would be the basis of the education system.
Earlier, the Board Committee of Chairmen of all nine Punjab boards had approved a full transition to digital paper marking, with answer sheets scanned and evaluated on computer screens to end incorrect marking and calculation errors. BISE Lahore has separately been preparing its own onscreen-marking rollout.
Supplementary examinations are a natural starting point: the volumes are smaller than the annual matric and intermediate exams, giving boards room to test the scanning, assignment and audit systems before a province-wide switch.
What it means for students
If the pilot works, students can expect fewer totalling mistakes and lost scripts, and a verifiable record of how their papers were marked. For a system long criticised for irregularities, the shift puts Punjab’s boards on the same digital path that examination bodies in other countries adopted years ago.
FAQs
What is on-screen marking?
Answer scripts are scanned and marked digitally on computers instead of by hand, with scripts assigned electronically to examiners through a secure platform.
When will Punjab boards start on-screen marking?
A pilot begins with the supplementary examinations, on the direction of Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat. The government plans to end manual checking entirely from next year.
How will the system stop wrong marking?
Examiner identity verification such as facial recognition, time limits per script to build an audit trail, and action against examiners involved in incorrect marking.
Which exams are covered first?
The supplementary examinations. The nine Punjab boards conduct the annual matriculation and intermediate exams, and the plan is to extend digital marking to those after the pilot.
