Inter results errors: BISEs chairmen, exam controllers blamed

Commission recommends Punjab government to take action against BISE chairmen, exam controllers for their negligence.


Express December 08, 2011

LAHORE: The chairmen and examination controllers of the eight Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education in Punjab as well as the IT consultant were responsible for the breakdown of the new computerised results system, a judicial commission has found.

Students protested and even rioted in parts of Punjab after the intermediate exam results were announced earlier this year because of major errors in their results cards.

The judicial commission, consisting of Justice Shahid Saeed, heard the testimony of 42 witnesses including board officials, employees, unions and students and compiled a 103-page inquiry report that has been sent to the chief secretary and home secretary for action.

Justice Saeed recommended that the Punjab government take action against the board officials for “culpable negligence” and not consider them for appointment to key posts.

The inquiry report also suggested that results be compiled manually alongside the computerised process until the kinks in the system are ironed out.

The commission also questioned the appointment of junior officer Ahad Cheema (the current Lahore district coordination officer) as Higher Education Department secretary when senior officers who fulfilled the requirements of the post were available.

Manzoor Hussain Dogar, the registrar for the commission, told reporters that all the chairmen and examination controllers who had been appointed or transferred during the computerisation process were responsible for the fiasco. He said former Lahore BISE chairman Akram Kashmiri, as head of the biggest board, was more responsible than others.

Many board officials in their testimony blamed the results errors on the IT consultant responsible for computerisation, Dr Majid Naeem. Justice Saeed said in the report that since the BISEs are autonomous bodies with control over their own finances, they bore responsibility for the situation.

None of the board officials had raised objections to Naeem’s appointment, he said. There was no notification of Dr Naeem’s appointment and it was also not clear who had made his appointment.

The report criticised some of the changes Naeem introduced, such as the new cover sheet (called face page) for exams, saying they were hard to follow for both students and teachers.

Naeem had also abolished the practice of putting fake roll numbers on students exams so that the examiner did not know who’s exam she was checking, a system introduced to curb cheating.

The inquiry report noted that six District Management Group officers had told the commission that Cheema’s appointment as head of the Higher Education Department was illegal because he was not qualified for the position.

The chief minister should hold an inquiry to establish whether Cheema’s appointment violated a Supreme Court judgement on the matter, the report said.

Justice Saeed said that Rs200 million had been spent on computerising the exam results, but there was no record of how the money had been spent.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 9th, 2011.

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