NTS ‘earned Rs140m in four years’
K-P lawmakers wonder why Public Service Commission is ignored over recruitment.
Varsity was closed after attack in Bacha Khan university for failing to meet the prescribed security standards. PHOTO: FILE
PESHAWAR:
The National Testing Services (NTS) has earned Rs149 million in four years in terms of fees for examinations to recruit teachers to government schools in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).
These figures – which also showed that 310,650 candidates appeared in the NTS tests in four years against 39,000 vacancies – were submitted on Wednesday by the provincial elementary and secondary education department in response to a query from Sardar Hussain Chitrali, a lawmaker from Chitral belonging to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
NAB tasks NTS to recruit 135 officers
The figures generated a heated debate, with opposition members asking why a non-governmental entity was chosen to conduct tests to fill government posts over and above the K-P Public Service Commission and the Education Testing and Evaluation Authority (ETEA).
Also questioning the transparency of the process, the lawmakers called the NTS testing a money-minting business, fleecing poor candidates.
Chitrali asked the government to tell the house about the mechanism adopted by the government to ensure that the NTS was not involved in ‘selling’ jobs and taking bribes.
“An NGO is recruiting officers of grade-17 for the government in the presence of government bodies such as the K-P Public Service Commission and the ETEA,” he said, adding that candidates from far-flung areas have had to spend approximately Rs10,000 for a test conducted by an NGO over which the government has no control.
NTS – a mystery that begs to be solved
Parliamentary leader of the Awami National Party (ANP) Sardar Hussain Babak asked the government to inform the assembly about how the NTS was chosen to do the testing as well as the provincial government’s share in NTS earnings. “Why was the NTS preferred to the ETEA?” he asked.
In response, K-P Law Minister Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi said the recruitment of 39,000 teachers had been made purely on merit and all departments were using the NTS for recruitment.
“An intending teacher pays a fee of just Rs300 -- far lower than Rs400,000 with which jobs were purchased in the tenures of previous governments,” said Qureshi.
He told the house that the government had no share in the fees collected by the NTS, and that the NTS performance was far better than that of the ETEA.
Qureshi’s comments irked Chitrali. “If the government is losing trust in its own institutions, it should give all departments, even this assembly too, to private contractors,” he said.
ANP’s Babak asked about the criteria on which the NTS was chosen for the job.
“I want to know the reasons behind the NTS selection. Did they win a lottery or someone forced the government [to bring them on],” he said, adding that preference should have been given to candidates’ academic performance and they should not have been selected on the basis of how they fared in NTS tests and interviews.
The deputy speaker approved holding a debate on the lawmakers’ request.
The assembly was unable to dwell much on its agenda because of incomplete quorum as opposition members walked out of the house when Babak raised objections to the speaker’s role in the assembly.
Babak had submitted an adjournment motion over the Bank of Khyber issue, which has failed to come up for debate during the last four sessions.
“The speaker’s chair, which should be impartial, is defending the government,” he said before staging a walkout in protest.
Other opposition members also joined him, forcing the deputy speaker to adjourn the session.
The National Testing Services (NTS) has earned Rs149 million in four years in terms of fees for examinations to recruit teachers to government schools in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).
These figures – which also showed that 310,650 candidates appeared in the NTS tests in four years against 39,000 vacancies – were submitted on Wednesday by the provincial elementary and secondary education department in response to a query from Sardar Hussain Chitrali, a lawmaker from Chitral belonging to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
NAB tasks NTS to recruit 135 officers
The figures generated a heated debate, with opposition members asking why a non-governmental entity was chosen to conduct tests to fill government posts over and above the K-P Public Service Commission and the Education Testing and Evaluation Authority (ETEA).
Also questioning the transparency of the process, the lawmakers called the NTS testing a money-minting business, fleecing poor candidates.
Chitrali asked the government to tell the house about the mechanism adopted by the government to ensure that the NTS was not involved in ‘selling’ jobs and taking bribes.
“An NGO is recruiting officers of grade-17 for the government in the presence of government bodies such as the K-P Public Service Commission and the ETEA,” he said, adding that candidates from far-flung areas have had to spend approximately Rs10,000 for a test conducted by an NGO over which the government has no control.
NTS – a mystery that begs to be solved
Parliamentary leader of the Awami National Party (ANP) Sardar Hussain Babak asked the government to inform the assembly about how the NTS was chosen to do the testing as well as the provincial government’s share in NTS earnings. “Why was the NTS preferred to the ETEA?” he asked.
In response, K-P Law Minister Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi said the recruitment of 39,000 teachers had been made purely on merit and all departments were using the NTS for recruitment.
“An intending teacher pays a fee of just Rs300 -- far lower than Rs400,000 with which jobs were purchased in the tenures of previous governments,” said Qureshi.
He told the house that the government had no share in the fees collected by the NTS, and that the NTS performance was far better than that of the ETEA.
Qureshi’s comments irked Chitrali. “If the government is losing trust in its own institutions, it should give all departments, even this assembly too, to private contractors,” he said.
ANP’s Babak asked about the criteria on which the NTS was chosen for the job.
“I want to know the reasons behind the NTS selection. Did they win a lottery or someone forced the government [to bring them on],” he said, adding that preference should have been given to candidates’ academic performance and they should not have been selected on the basis of how they fared in NTS tests and interviews.
The deputy speaker approved holding a debate on the lawmakers’ request.
The assembly was unable to dwell much on its agenda because of incomplete quorum as opposition members walked out of the house when Babak raised objections to the speaker’s role in the assembly.
Babak had submitted an adjournment motion over the Bank of Khyber issue, which has failed to come up for debate during the last four sessions.
“The speaker’s chair, which should be impartial, is defending the government,” he said before staging a walkout in protest.
Other opposition members also joined him, forcing the deputy speaker to adjourn the session.