HANDWRITING AESTHETICS AND ASSESSMENT RELIABILITY: A STUDY OF ENGLISH BOARD EXAMINATIONS IN KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA

Assessment serves as a fundamental component of educational systems and plays a central role in determining students’ academic achievement and progress. The reliability and validity of assessments are therefore essential to ensure fairness and accuracy in the evaluation process. However, in the context of Pakistan, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), the reliability of English language assessment conducted by the Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISEs) has long been questioned. Anecdotal and empirical evidence suggests that aesthetic elements such as handwriting neatness and visual presentation may influence examiners’ marking decisions, potentially overshadowing linguistic competence and content quality. This quantitative study examines the extent to which handwriting aesthetics affect assessment reliability in English papers at the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC) levels under the eight BISEs of KP. Data were collected from 467 students representing both public and private institutions using a structured questionnaire, and analysed through SPSS using descriptive and correlational statistics. The findings revealed that neat handwriting and visual presentation significantly influence marks awarded in English papers, which indicates a systematic bias that compromises assessment reliability. The study concludes that this aesthetic bias has become embedded in the evaluation culture, which leads to an overemphasis on superficial presentation rather than linguistic accuracy. It recommends reforming marking rubrics, training examiners to prioritise linguistic criteria, and implementing standardised evaluation procedures to ensure fairness and reliability.