PESHAWAR, Jan 13: NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah has said that the entrance test was a sound and transparent procedure to determine the aptitude and academic qualification of the contenders for admissions to professional colleges.

However, he urged the concerned authorities to ensure transparency.

The governor was speaking at a presentation on the performance and achievements of the Educational Testing and Evaluation Agency during a visit to the ETEA offices here on Monday, said a handout.

Provincial minister for education Maulana Fazal Ali, secretary higher education Tariq Jamil, MD Frontier Education Foundation Khalid Sultan Khwaja, head of ETEA Dr Abdul Wahid and other officials were also present on this occasion.

The governor was informed of the various stages and steps that involved the entry test procedure particularly for the medical and engineering colleges.

He was told that four different sets of question papers carrying the same 200 questions in different sequences were prepared and distributed accordingly among the candidates in order to avoid chances of cheating.

On a query regarding the marking of question papers, the governor was informed that keys to the correct answers were fed in the computer which carried out the marking process at the rate of 2,000 papers per hour and the accuracy is definite.

However, a separate procedure has also been suggested for manual checking of answer sheets if required, the governor was told.

On another point, it was stated that during the briefing there were zero chances of replacement of answer sheets because every sheet has the signature of the candidate and the official seal of the respective institution.