Angry protesters blocked the Mingora-Saidu Sharif Road on Sunday following the postponement of an exam due to rain.
The primary teacher certificate (PTC) and certified teacher (CT) examinations was cancelled “due to heavy rain and an overwhelming number of prospective candidates”, according to Education Testing & Evaluation Agency (ETEA).
The test venue was an open ground in Jahanzeb College, which candidates said was drenched and muddy due to the rain. After a considerable delay, the organisers shifted the venue to the college’s Wadudia Hall, but the number of candidates was too staggering to fit.
An official said as many as 4,400 candidates appeared at the test centre to apply for the 66 advertised middle and primary school posts. Moreover an additional 2,500 female candidates applied for 16 positions.
“After an entire day of chaos, we were seated like animals,” said Sarwar Begum, a candidate. The test was supposed to start at 2pm but the organisers could not even distribute test papers to candidates until 4pm, after which they decided to postpone the test, she said.
Riaz Khan, a drenched and disgruntled candidate, said the met department had forecasted rain, “but strangely enough, our education department was unaware of it”. He added that when he arrived at the test centre in the morning, the seats and the ground were all wet and there was no one from the organisers to tell the candidates where to go. “We did not know that the test venue had changed,” he added. They found out about the new venue after they called the education department.
A female candidate said, “Half of the candidates did not even know their seat numbers and it was evident that the hall was too small to seat the large number of candidates.”
Earlier the ETEA Administration Officer Riaz Akbar said that everything is in control and the test will commence on time. When asked about the mismanagement, he said ETEA is only responsible for conducting the tests, while the arrangements are the responsibility of the education department.
The EDO, however, refused to comment on the issue and said that media was not allowed to enter the test venue.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 16th, 2012.
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