HYDERABAD: The Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) suspended eight officials over paper leak in ongoing examination for Senior School Teacher’s (SST) jobs on Tuesday and asked police to investigate the scandal before cancelling the paper throughout the province.

The commission decided to hold afresh the SST’s job test in April and requested the candidates to remain calm and continue their preparations, according to SPSC announcement made by its secretary Nazir Qureshi.

The exam for SST (BS-16) male (general category) started on Feb 15 and was to continue till Feb 26 in five centres, of which two were set up in Hyderabad, one each in Karachi, Sukkur and Larkana.

The paper was cancelled after reports circulated in the morning that one Naeemullah Mahar had shared the paper on his Whatsapp group. “Around 32 questions shared on social media were exactly those which were part of the SST’s paper, leaving the SPSC with no recourse but to cancel the exams over fears if Tuesday’s paper has been leaked then there is every likelihood other papers may also have been leaked from Feb 15 to 26,” said a commission official. On an average, around 30,000 candidates are to appear for tests each day from Feb 15 to 26, he informed.

Enraged candidates block road

After cancellation of the paper, the candidates at two different centres set up in Public School and Wapda football ground left the venue and of them some furious youths gathered outside SPSC headquarters located on Thandi Sarak to give vent to their anger. They blocked the road and raised slogans against the commission.

The commission’s administration called police who used force to disperse the crowd and restore traffic on this busiest artery of the city.

Later, SPSC secretary also spoke to a delegation of the protesting candidates, offering his explanation and apology for the whole episode.

The SPSC administration has suspended eight of its officials, including Zainal Alam, assistant controller examination-I; Sajjad Ahmed Chawli, senior computer operator; Ahsan Zaheer Abro, senior computer operator; Khan Mohammad Shah, Akbar Ali Dahiri, Syed Shahzeb Jafri, Shahzaib Abro and Aziz Ahmed (last five are peons).

Inquiry committee formed

The commission chairman has formed a two-member enquiry committee comprising Rizwan Ahmed and Mohammad Arif Hanif (both SPSC members) which shall submit its report on the paper leak within 24 hours.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2024