PESHAWAR, Nov 28: An influential lobby in the University of Peshawar is opposing computerisation of the examination section in place of the manual system for pecuniary gains, it is learnt.

A well-placed official, told Dawn that computerisation of system, introduced early this year, had helped checking cases of impersonation, change of examination centres and other unfair activities in the examination. But, he added, the system was facing resistance from the powerful lobby.

In the BA/BSc supplementary examination of 2006, the concerned section detected a number of cases of unfair means. It was found following an inquiry that supervisory staff was involved in almost all cases of fraudulent change of centres, impersonation of candidates and filling out the answer sheet outside the examination centres.

“Around 200 supervisory staff members who were often deputed in the same examination centres every year were found responsible for the scam and subsequently blacklisted,” the official said.

In-service and retired professors are engaged as tabulators and scrutinisers against Rs10 for a single hand-written detailed marks certificate. In the same manner, staff of the examination section worked overtime and earned sometimes more than their original salaries, it is learnt.

The examination staff also drew monetary benefits from re-checking of papers, the official said.

“The computerisation of the entire examination section would deprive many of the staffers from this additional handsome amount,” said another official at the examination system.

The official was of the view that in the old manual system change of photos to facilitate impersonation was rampant as against the computerised system in which it is simply out of question.

The attempt to issue computerised roll number slips to candidates in BA/BSc examination 2007 is a case in point when the opposing lobby tried to block the new system by causing a delay in its distribution.Prof Dr M. Javid Khan, the acting vice-chancellor of the Peshawar University, said that if some elements were opposing the computerisation of the examination system, the high-ups in administration should control the situation as they were at the helm of affairs.

The vice-chancellor, who himself remained controller of examination section in 1998, said that he had tried to computerise the results of MA/MSc and B.Com examinations but it could not be sustained.

Prof Khan said that the computer system could not be maintained because the people in the examination system were not very familiar with working on computers.

He said that the examination system was complicated and a helpful software had not been developed yet to computerise the entire system.