LAHORE: The Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Lahore has made biometric attendance mandatory for students appearing in Matric and Intermediate examinations.
The official notification states that examination centres will permit entry only after people have completed biometric verification of both their thumbs. The directive has been issued to principals of schools and colleges in Lahore, Kasur, Sheikhupura and Nankana Sahib to collect students’ biometric fingerprints in advance.
Under the new policy, students will be required to undergo biometric attendance before the start of each examination. The examination centres will use both thumb impressions to verify their identity.
The board has instructed heads of educational institutions to arrange biometric devices at their respective institutions. The biometric data of students will be transferred to the software system used by the Lahore Board. All candidates must provide biometric impressions of their two thumbs.
The examination system will become more secure through this initiative which promotes transparency and blocks impersonation.
Class 8 students to face board exams after four-year break
Meanwhile, the Punjab government has declared that the board examinations for Class 8 will be held, thus officially bringing them back into the examination schedule for March 2026, and thereby ending a period of four years during which no such examinations took place.
As per the statement of Punjab Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat Khan, the Punjab Examination Commission and Assessment Authority (PECTA) has already been informed of the examination schedule. He has shared that the board exams under the aegis of the PECTA will commence on March 5, 2026.
Additionally, he gave a guarantee that all the arrangements had been done and the exams would be conducted uniformly province-wide to ensure the two factors of transparency and standardization would be achieved.
They have PECTA officials promised that all District Education Authorities have appointed focal persons who will be responsible for ensuring the exams are well coordinated and smoothly conducted.
The provincial government’s goal through this announcement is to fortify the assessment system and resuscitate the middle school level all with the standard testing practice.
