LAHORE: The Punjab government’s decision to forbid the use of private invigilators for the Class IX examination and to force the immediate removal of public school teachers from their positions for the purpose has caused problems for the examination controllers of the Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISEs), in addition to the teachers themselves.
After discovering that the private invigilators employed to oversee the class IX annual exams were complicit in cheating and had given favors to some applicants in exchange for bribes, Lahore BISE fired them all.
Teachers from public schools were abruptly appointed to the class-IX examination centers to replace the private invigilators.
An office-bearer for the Punjab Teachers Union (PTU) informed Dawn that since the government replaced the private invigilators with schoolteachers, the exam centers were severely short-staffed.
He referred to the action as ill-timed, given that the province’s department of education was already experiencing a teacher shortage of almost 125,000.
He claims that a large number of teachers were hastily posted to locations far from their homes, making it impossible for them to show up at the testing locations to carry out their investigatory duties.
He claims that since these teachers were not given transportation to the test locations, the relevant authorities ought to have taken the distance into account.
The PTU spokesman continues, “When it comes to female teachers who were appointed as invigilators, the problem gets more serious.” He claims that as a result, a large number of female teachers were unable to report to the assigned testing locations, which caused a delay in the examination process at the majority of the locations.
He claims that in order to fill the staffing gap, the superintendents of numerous testing locations had to designate employees from neighboring universities as invigilators.
However, the PTU officer-bearers claim that the government’s decision to designate teachers as invigilators resulted in a teacher shortage in hundreds of schools around the province when the new school year began.
On Tuesday, the Punjabi government persisted in taking action against those implicated in anomalies during the Class IX exams.
Muhammad Ali Randhawa, the interim chairman of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) in Lahore, suspended the superintendent of a private school in Shadman after discovering private invigilators there during an unexpected visit to an examination center.
In addition, he issued Peeda Act actions against the superintendent and suspended him, as ordered by the Lahore BISE Controller of Examination.
During his nighttime inspection of the MAO College exam center, Mr. Randhawa discovered that there was no private invigilator present.
After watching the CCTV footage from the center’s cameras, he gave the controller instructions to appropriately notify the teachers of their responsibilities.
Additionally, he gave the controller strong instructions for the professors who fail to show up for their exams.
He stated that ensuring the availability of the examination staff was the duty of the district’s chief executive officer and the concerned deputy commissioner.
Lahore BISE chairman and controller of examinations were fired a few days ago by Punjab School Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat due to their suspected involvement in encouraging cheating during the ongoing class-IX annual exams.
A committee had been established to look into the accusations made against the two officials, with the extra commissioner (coordination) serving as its chairman.
