PESHAWAR: The Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Peshawar, has deputed invigilators to private schools for the ongoing intermediate examination in violation of the rules.

It has also engaged invigilation staff from other districts, which don’t fall in its jurisdiction.

The BISE has divided its jurisdiction, including Peshawar, Charsadda, Chitral, Khyber and Mohmand districts, in different zones.

Chairman insists acting controller ignored his orders and engaged invigilation staff of own choice

Under the rules, the teachers of one zone cannot be deputed in another as invigilators.

However, the rules have been violated through the posting of teachers as invigilation staff to zones other than theirs.

As declared by rules, officials of the elementary and secondary education department and BISE conduct a computerised draw for deputing invigilators to examination centres.

They also prepare a shadow list by a computerised draw of teachers for deputing them as invigilators in case the teachers selected in the first draw refuse to perform duty for one reason or the reason.

Dawn obtained two lists of the invigilation staff, one prepared in light of the computerised draw and the other of invigilators performing duty in examination centres.

Many discrepancies were found in both lists.

In some cases, the names of invigilators were replaced with those not mentioned in the shadow list or waiting list. Instead, invigilation staff of ‘own choice’ were deputed in the examination centres by the relevant board officials.

Sources told Dawn that acting chairman of BISE Peshawar Bashir Khan Yousafzai had issued a letter to acting controller Malik Maqsood Anwar asking him not to depute any person without his approval as invigilators other than those on the actual and shadow lists compiled by computerised draw.

They claimed that the acting controller ignored the orders by deputing invigilation staff of own choice.

When contacted, chairman board Bashir Khan Yousafzai confirmed that the acting controller didn’t take his approval for invigilators, whose names were not mentioned in the original and shadow lists.

Acting controller of the board Malik Maqsood Ahmad told Dawn that deputing invigilators to 366 examination centres was a gigantic task.

“We received refusal from many teachers selected as invigilation staff members through a computerised draw,” he said adding that deputing invigilators thereafter was his responsibility.

Asked why the invigilation staff mentioned on the shadow list was not deputed to examination halls after the refusal of those on the actual list, the acting controller opted not to reply.

He claimed that the BISE’s board of governors had empowered the controller to depute 10 per cent of the invigilation staff from the districts not falling in the jurisdiction of Peshawar.

He, however, failed to produce a copy of that decision.

Asked why he didn’t take the chairman’s prior approval for invigilators not mentioned in the original and shadow lists, the acting controller insisted that the board head had no powers to issue such directions.

“Deputing invigilation staff is the domain of the controller only,” he said.

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2019