Educators reject new exam supervisors

Say assigning exam duties to fresh grads undermines professional role

HARIPUR:

 

The Tanzeem-e-Asatiza Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has rejected the government's decision to assign supervisory and inspection duties in forthcoming examinations to fresh graduates and Education Monitoring Authority (EMA) personnel.

The organisation's provincial president, Dr Aamir Atiq Siddiqui, alongside Shahid Mahmood Gohar, president of Tanzeem-e-Asatiza District Haripur, and secretary Masoodur Rehman, expressed these views in a joint statement.

They noted that several educational boards across K-P have formally advertised for applications from fresh graduates to undertake supervisory duties in the upcoming examinations, a move which, they said, has caused widespread concern among the teaching community and academic circles.

They maintained that whether in the sphere of teaching or in the assessment of students' performance, no component of the examination system can be separated from the teacher.

Over time, they argued, teachers have been distanced from monitoring the academic process within educational institutions, divided into management and teaching cadres, and removed from curriculum bodies under administrative pretexts. They further alleged that teachers are being sidelined from the core responsibilities of educational boards, and that supervisory duties in examinations are now also being withdrawn from them. They observed that, notably, such experiments are being conducted exclusively in K-P.

The statement emphasised that teachers, like all government employees, remain accountable to the state even after retirement and can be held to account for any shortcomings during their service.

Moreover, teachers are fully conversant with their assignments and maintain a vigilant oversight. Any deficiencies within the system, they argued, should be rectified rather than destabilising the entire structure.

The organisation described the decision to entrust examination duties to fresh graduates, or to delegate inspection responsibilities to Education Monitoring Authority staff, as an open expression of mistrust towards government schoolteachers.

It stressed that examinations constitute a sensitive and highly responsible process requiring experience, professional training and familiarity with the system - qualities which, it contended, fresh graduates, EMA personnel or clerical staff cannot match as stakeholders in comparison with school and college teachers.

The Tanzeem-e-Asatiza Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa expressed serious reservations over the policy and called upon the authorities to review the decision, safeguard the status and dignity of the teaching profession, and address shortcomings where they exist rather than undermining the integrity of the educational and examination system.