PESHAWAR, Jan 15: The NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah has directed that a separate mechanism for rechecking and re-totalling of examination and entrance test papers to redress grievances of students who appeal and to bring transparency in the examination system.

At a meeting of the Board of governors of the Examination, Testing and Evaluation Authority (ETEA) at the governor’s house on Monday, he said the new mechanism would introduce accountability in the system.  

He expressed the hope that the wrong practices and corruption prevalent in the education system could be eliminated through the mechanism.

He said that genuine concerns of the students could not be ignored and if there was a need to amendments the rules in this regard, the government would do so.

The governor underlined the need to redesign the process of practical exams.

He advised the ETEA to scrutinize the data bank and update it so that the  inadvertent mistakes, if any, could be rectified.

He said the exercise should be carried out with meticulous care and the philosophy should be to test the comprehension of the students.

The governor okayed the budgeting and recommendations of the  finance committee. The meeting decided that the vice-chancellor and the principal of Khyber Medical College would continue to be  committee’s members.

The meeting agreed with the proposal of 10 per cent increase in the salaries of ETEA staff and decided that if the government employee’s salaries were revised in future, their salaries would be raised on the same pattern.

The governor said that the board was a decision making body and the functional matters could be settled at the secretariat level.

The NWFP Education Minister Syed Imtiaz Hussain Gillani, health secretary, engineering university VC, Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education secretary, Khyber Medical College principal, higher education secretary and ETEA executive director attended the meeting.

COLLEGE INAUGURATED: Speaking as chief guest at the inauguration ceremony  of the government degree college at Mathra, the governor said that the decision to increase the period of study for graduation would improve the standard of education and the degree would be acceptable in other countries.

He stressed the need for improvement in quality of education and said the students were not coming up to the standard.

The governor said that the students who indulged in politics should be expelled.

He said that the government had decided that teaching of Islamic studies in its educational institutions would be strengthened and the students of Madaris would be given worldly knowledge as well. After acquiring modern education, students of religious schools would also be able to become bankers, professors, doctors and experts in different fields, he said and added that no religious school would be allowed to run if latest education was not imparted there.

Referring to the establishment of the college, the governor said its building had remained useless for the last six or seven years. He said the government had used existing buildings and to establish colleges. He announced a grant of Rs1 million for the college.

He sanctioned the posts of librarian and science subjects teacher for the college and announced that four students of the college would be given scholarships by the Frontier Education Foundation.

Principal Attaur Rehman said 909 students were enrolled in the college and their number would be increased.