Online system: ‘Intermediate results fiasco shows how haste makes waste’

Criticisms of Ahad Cheema continue, commission chides TV reporter.

LAHORE: The judicial commission holding an inquiry into the inter results debacle recorded evidence from a former IT consultant, Advocate Azhar Siddique and Shumaila Jafree, a TV reporter on Friday.

Yousaf Samdani, Dr Majid Naeem’s predecessor told the commission that this year’s fiasco was a textbook example of ‘haste makes waste’.

He said that former Higher Education Department secretary Ahad Cheema had pressured the chairmen of all eight boards of the Punjab to start using the online system right away.

That is why the boards and their employees were not able to operate the system. “Cheema told the chairmen that the chief minister wanted the boards to immediately start using computerised examination system,” Samdani informed the commission.

He said that he was paid Rs24,000 monthly as advisor/coordinator for computerisation of education boards.

He added that a notification to the effect was issued by the Punjab Boards Committee of  Chairmen.

Justice Shahid Saeed, during the proceedings on Friday, appeared unimpressed with the Danish Schools project.

“Under the project, only a few areas will get Danish (wisdom). The whole province deserves to have Danish without any discrimination,” he said.

Justice Saeed said that a uniform education policy is the need of the hour.

The commission had also summoned Advocate Azhar Siddique who submitted some documents including a copy of the petition he had filed against the appointment of Ahad Cheema.

Siddique told the judge that he believed Ahad Cheema was responsible for all the collapse of online examination system because he was a junior officer who was not qualified for the job.

At the end of proceedings, the commission sought an explanation from Shumaila Jafree, a TV reporter for a documentary on Dr Majid Naeem, which was aired while the commission was conducting an inquiry.

“Do you know that you can be sent to jail for six months for the offence?” Justice Saeed asked the reporter.

He also remarked that the race between private TV channels for breaking news was unhealthy.

“Media is no longer the fourth pillar of the state. It is now the first pillar. It should act responsibly,” the judge observed.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 26^th, 2011.