LAHORE – There is a likelihood of malpractices and corruption in the annual matriculation examinations 2011 after the officials of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Lahore and Lahore executive district officer (EDO)’s office clerks appointed six corrupt superintendents to examination centres, Pakistan Today learnt on Tuesday. BISE officials said that these six teachers had been found guilty of corruption in the past, but still board officials appointed them. The board officials have alleged that the BISE’s office clerk, Tanveer, and EDO’s office clerk, Sohail, were behind these appointments, while Controller Manzoor-ul-Hassan Niazi was kept in the dark in these questionable appointments.
BISE sources claimed that BISE and EDO office clerks after taking around Rs 35,000 from each teacher assigned them the duties of centre superintendents. The ‘booti mafia’ has become an integral part of the examination system despite BISE’s claims of eradicating corruption from examination halls. BISE high-ups who deal with the ongoing matriculation examinations in Lahore on Tuesday identified six teachers who were involved in corruption in the past and were again appointed by some elements to the city’s examination centres.
Teachers that were identified by the BISE officials are Tariq Mahmood Azad from Nangal Sadhan High School Sheikhupura, Khadim Hussain from Takia Lehri Shah High School Lahore, Iftikhar Ahmad from Government High School Urdu Bazzar, Zafer Ali from Governent Inter College Narin Sheikhpura, Wahid Ahmad Tabbasum from Khawaja Model Middle School Shahdra Lahore and Sakhwat Ali Gujjer from Govt Dail Singh College Lahore.
A BISE official claimed that these six teachers were blacklisted by BISE for illegally supporting students in solving papers. He said these teachers were running private academies as well. He said Tariq Mahmood Azad, a Taxali Gate resident and who also runs a private academy in Said Mitha, was the leader of this group. He said Tariq charged Rs 4000 from students for helping them solve one paper and Rs 1500 for the objective type’s portion.
Another senior official of the BISE questioned why blacklisted men were appointed as superintendents. He said BISE officials identified such centres last year as well but nothing was done and the same corrupt officials from within BISE are still present on their seats and are illegally appointing more corrupt officials in the examination halls. He alleged that students take advantage of the deal offered to them and many pay for solving objective type portions because this portion contains 20 marks and students after solving the objective type paper just require 13 marks from the subjective type portion to pass the exam.
He said that it was ‘outrageous’ to see clerks appointing superintendents while the controller was sidelined by the EDO and the secretary. He said it was mismanagement on the part of the Punjab government and the education minister, who are unaware of the happening inside BISE. He said that Punjab CM should inquire who was on the back of failure of online system and corruption in examinations halls. The Imamia Student Organisation (ISO) condemned the Punjab government on the failure of online examination system.
