Bookstores and photostat shops near examination centres will remain closed during the exams said the district administration, after journalists and policemen were beaten up by the shopkeepers on Friday.
A salesman at a photostat shop, outside Noor Muhammad High School, manhandled two cameramen, Shahid Malik from Aaj Television and Afzal Khan from Geo Television (Geo TV), and a reporter of Khabrain newspaper, Shiraz Bhatti, on Friday when they tried to record the photocopying of the solved Physics papers being taken by grade 10 students.
Later, the shopkeepers also thrashed a police inspector, Haji Javed, who reached the spot after the journalists registered a complaint with Rescue 15. “They first asked us to stop recording the activity on camera,” said Shahid Malik. “Then in a flick of a moment a guy came around and started pushing us.” The police arrested three of the six men involved in manhandling the reporters. They were identified as Hadi Bux Mallah, Fahad Mallah and Najmuddin Mallah. They have also been booked in two separate FIRs lodged by inspector Hadi Javed and cameraman Shahid Malik.
Copy culture thrives
The Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Hyderabad has set up 209 centres for 100,613 students in its jurisdiction of nine districts. But despite all the board’s claims of taking steps to control the ‘copy culture,’ the menace thrives.
A photostat shop owner, whose shop is next to an examination centre, said that they were only one segment of a whole chain which promoted cheating. “You can shut our shops but what about the guides which students buy before exams and then take with them to exam centres, the teachers who prepare them, the board which gives percentage on sifarish or bribe and the students who are willing to cheat?” he asked.
He justified the reaction of the suspects, but said that action should be taken at once against everyone who is part of the cheating culture.
The BISE puts the responsibility of enforcing Section 144 on the district administration. “We can only point out a certain violation or record a complaint under the section to the administration but can’t take action ourselves,” said its chairman, Aleem Khanzada, while talking to The Express Tribune. He claimed that the board’s vigilance teams rarely came across such violations during their regular visits to exam centres. The board has 20 vigilance teams comprising four members each who look over the centres in nine districts. Khanzada admitted that the strength was far short of what was required to keep a check.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 15th, 2012.
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