PESHAWAR: The Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Dera Ismail Khan, has been functioning in a small rented building which undermines its performance and puts at stake secrecy of the examinations, according to officials.

“No reform could be introduced in the board as it has been functioning in a rented building,” a senior official of the board told this correspondent. He said that it was discrimination with DI Khan board that the provincial government failed to provide funds for the construction of its own building.

The official said that all the other education boards had established specials halls for checking of exam papers and installed close-circuit cameras for monitoring of the checkers. He said that the boards in the province had also started one-window operations for facilitation of the students while getting certificates and detailed marks certificates.

The board’s rented building has no space to maintain exam secrecy, record

However, he said, such reforms couldn’t be introduced in the DI Khan board as it had been functioning in a small rented building since its establishment in 2006. He said that owing to absence of a proper hall the board administration was compelled to arrange rooms for checking of papers at a nearby government school.

The examination’s secrecy could be breached anytime as the checking of papers was taking place at a distance from the board.

Similarly, the board’s rented building has virtually no space for keeping papers for the purpose of record. Under the rules, the official said, the board administration should not dispose of the answer sheets of the students for three years as in this duration the answer sheets might be used for court cases. However, he said that the DI Khan board could not store the answer sheets for more than six months for lack of space.

He said that other boards in the province were buying stationery in bulk at minimum price because they had sufficient space while the administration of DI Khan board was unable to purchase the stationary in bulk.

Similarly, ceremonies for the declaration of matriculation and intermediate examinations were arranged outside the board premises.

Officials said that after continuous efforts of the board authorities, the Elementary and Secondary Education Department asked them to take over its regional institute for teachers training where the Gomal Medical College, DI Khan, had been functioning. They said that the construction of GMC’s own building had been completed, but its administration was reluctant to shift there by vacating the building.

When contacted, GMC principal Akhtar Muneer said that construction of the building for the college was not yet completed. “The current building is not sufficient for the medical college because it is congested,” he said.

Mr Muneer said that works like installation of electricity transformer and arrangement of drinking water were yet to be made. He said that work on construction of the building was started in 2004, but it couldn’t be completed in 14 years. “Funds were provided to this medical college in a piecemeal manner,” he said.

However, he said that he would try to vacate the building in coming August at the start of the new academic year by shifting to own building.

The then provincial government initiated the process of land purchase for the construction of the building of DI Khan board in 2013. However, the land was bought at exorbitant rate by the high-ups of the board at that time. On the request of the education department, the National Accountability Bureau intervened and recovered Rs72 million from several persons involved in the scam.

Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2018