LANDI KOTAL/KHAR: As many as 16 students of grades 9th and 10th were not allowed to sit in the examination hall for their Secondary School Certificate (SSC) paper in Loe Shalman area on Thursday when they failed to produce their roll numbers issued by the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Peshawar.

Talking to mediapersons at Landi Kotal Press Club, students of Government High School Wali Mohammad Korona in Loe Shalman alleged that a senior teacher of their school, Misal Khan, had collected Rs2,500 from each of the students as their exams and roll number fee when the BISE,Peshawar, had announced the exams dates.

They added that three days ago Misal Khan assured them of giving their roll numbers before start of the paper, but disappeared on Wednesday and could not be approached on his mobile phone.

Naseerullah, a grade 9th student, claimed that their senior teacher Misal Khan had been demanding money from them for quite some time and even threatened to withhold roll number slips of those students who told him that they could not pay money in excess of their exams fee. He said that all of them were regular students and had studied hard for their annual exams. “By missing our paper, we have virtually lost one precious academic year which could not be compensated,” he said with a grim voice.

When contacted, Khyber tribal district education officer Jadoon Khan said that he immediately stopped the salary of Misal Khan and had initiated an inquiry against him. He said that they had recommended to the provincial education directorate for his forced retirement.

Sources in the education office in Jamrud said that Misal Khan had only recently been reinstated after his suspension by the education directorate prior to last year’s general elections on the complaint of Inayatullah Khan, a former provincial minister, for misbehaviour.

Parents of the affected students have urged the government to allow their children to appear in the annual SSC examinations.

In Khar, officials said that the annual SSC examinations have started in Bajaur tribal district.

They said that the SSC examinations under the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Malakand, started on Thursday. He said the board had set up 20 examinations centers across the district where about 3,000 students, both boys and girls, were appearing in the examinations. He said that several private candidates were also appearing in the exams.

Also, the district administration in a statement rejected a report claiming that the class 10th paper of the students of Governor Model School and College, located Khar’s civil colony, scheduled for today (Friday) had been postponed owing to the prime minister’s visit to the district.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2019