MIANWALI, Feb 25: As with many other parts of the province, the Sargodha Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education has failed to facilitate students through its online admission project.

Having failed to find the system user-friendly and inaccessible in most cases, a number of intermediate students have gone through a trying ordeal.

There are seven degree colleges -- four for boys and three for girls -- besides many higher secondary schools in the district.

The BISE had introduced the online admission system (in the division) to offer students an alternative to the manual submission of admission forms but technical glitches and inaccessibility made it even more testing.

The workload of the Board staff was reduced at the cost of routine efficiency of the managements of educational institutions. Although the BISE has made centres in each district with a view to facilitating students, the private students are having a tough time due to teething troubles.

Many students have complained that there is no proper guideline for those seeking migration or change of subject at these centres. More annoying is the indifference of the BISE's IT department which doesn't attend the calls on the circulated number, they say.

Meanwhile, the candidates have also complained that the Sargodha board has almost doubled the registration and admission fee for intermediate students, that is, from Rs800 to Rs1,500 despite the fact that Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had announced fee waiver for the students in Punjab. Dawn

Ahmed Khan, a private candidate, told that he belonged to a very poor family which did not afford the enhanced admission fee.

Piplan resident Malik Mitha claimed his son wished to change a subject but it meant ordeal because of a lack of guidance at the online centre at his college. “What use the online facility when I am forced to go to Sargodha to get the task done,” he deplored.

Punjab Professors and Lecturers Association's Sargodha Division Vice-President Prof Bilal Ahmed Khan told this correspondent that the Board was earning a handsome amount but it was least interested in enhancing remuneration for invigilators. “They don't even pay for duty during holidays,” he added.

Saleem Ahsan, a retired professor, accused the Sargodha Board authorities of nepotism.

Instead of hiring the services of seasoned academics for paper setting, evaluation and conducting examinations, he said, the Board assigned the important jobs to people on the basis of their relations with the higher authorities.

He demanded that the district administration conduct an exhaustive probe to verify wrongdoings in the BISE affairs to save the students from inconvenience and blackmailing.

Sargodha BISE chairman Prof Abdul Aziz Baloch claimed the online system had been improved as he denied receiving any complaint in this regard.

The board secretary, Anwar Farooq informed Dawn that the IT department had changed its phone number and that's why many students failed to get themselves connected.

He admitted some flaws in the system and advised the students to visit the board offices to get the subject changed or any grievance redressed.