The invigilation staff at a private college was manhandled and locked in a room by outsiders for not allowing cheating in the ongoing intermediate examinations here on Friday. The Schools Officers Association, a union of the teachers, after the alleged manhandling of the examiners, threatened to boycott duties in the examination centres across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa if the invigilators were not provided proper security. The incident took place in the Peshawar Science College, a private sector educational institution located in Faqirabad, after the board paper ended. The outsiders apparently attacked the examiners in connivance with the college administration,” one of the invigilators told Dawn on the condition of anonymity. He said that since the start of intermediate examinations on April 23 the invigilation staff was running the hall according to the rules and regulation and not allowing cheating despite many efforts of the students appearing in the examinations. He said that around 200 outsiders, probably students of the nearby Government College of Peshawar affiliated with different student federations, stormed the college while shouting slogans against the invigilation staff. He claimed that the attackers also snatched mobile phone, cash and other documents from the superintendent of the centre and scuffled with him. The invigilator said that the exams staff was locked for about an hour in a room of the school who called their friends, police and administration of the education board for rescue through mobile phones. He said that the college administration had earlier also made efforts to change the existing invigilation staff, as it was not happy with strictness of the examiners.
Sources in the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Peshawar, told Dawn that there were around 10 private colleges in Faqirabad area and there was a tough competition among them to attract new students after showing good results in the intermediate examinations. After the incident, the examiners rushed to the board and demanded of the chairman to shift the examination hall to the board building, he said. “We will feel safe and secure if the hall is shifted to the building of BISE, Peshawar,” he said. When contacted, BISE chairman Prof Mohammad Shafi said that he had informed the police high-ups about the incident and asked them to provide security to the invigilation staff immediately. The students who just expect to qualify the intermediate examinations through cheating couldn’t afford transparent examinations, he said. Security would be provided to the teachers, said Mr Shafi. General Secretary of the Schools Officers Association Samiullah Khan Khalil, when contacted, demanded of the government to register an FIR against the attackers. He said that teachers would not perform duty as invigilators in the ongoing intermediate examinations if security was not provided to them. He said that the SOA office-bearers, police and board officials would reach the Peshawar Science College on Saturday morning (today) to ensure security of the examiners. When contacted, the Faqirabad police station official said that no FIR about the incident was registered with them.
Source: Dawn.
