Inter results: ‘Media did not exaggerate crisis’

Former IT consultant says errors occur every year.

LAHORE:

Errors in the compilation of exam results occur every year, but this time the issue was blown out of proportion by the media and by vested interests in the Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISEs) in the Punjab, said the former IT consultant for the BISEs on Thursday.

Justice Shahid Saeed, who comprises the judicial commission investigating the intermediate results fiasco, rejected Dr Majid Naeem’s criticism of the media.

“You think that the media should have stayed at home even when students were on the streets and the board building were set on fire?” he said, adding that the media had done its job professionally and tried to get to the truth of the matter.

Dr Naeem, was brought before the commission by the National Accountability Bureau, said that the board administrations were involved in the protests and the ransacking of buildings. He said board officials with vested interests had tried to sabotage the new computerised system.

The judge observed that the statements of the board chairmen indicated that the IT consultant had unlimited power to change the system.

Dr Naeem said that he had sought three days from the board heads to remove the errors in the results, but his offer had not been considered. Justice Saeed asked Naeem to file a final written statement and added that he did not need to appear at every hearing. Advocate Muhammad Azhar Siddique is to present evidence to assist the commission today (Friday).

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2011.