Conflict of interest: Mardan board’s secretary under fire for ‘violation of rules’

His daughter was allowed to take intermediate exam under the board, which has rules barring practice; probe underway.

MARDAN:

Concerns have been raised from different quarters over the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Mardan allowing its secretary’s daughter to take exams under the board.

According to the board rules, children or relatives of the board officials are not eligible to take examination in the board’s jurisdiction.

The issue was raised after the board awarded 15 extra marks to the of BISE Secretary Amir Bahadar Khan’s daughter, Nida Sadia, a student of Tufail Shaheed Army College, during recalculation of her intermediate pre-medical (part one) exam scores.

The BISE secretary, however, maintains that since he falls in the category of the establishment employees he is exempted from the rules. Khan said that in this regard he also issued a notification that was approved by the then board chairman Dr Himayatullah.

Khan said that he had gone through all the necessary procedures and the notification was also approved by the controller. He argued that the rules were only designed for employees working in the secrecy department. He further said that he never intervened or pressurised any board official for increasing his daughter’s marks in the exam.



The revised marks sheet of Khan’s daughter does not show the subjects in which she had been given the extra marks. Her Detailed Marks Certificate issued on July 19 shows that she secured 427 out of 550 marks in her exams.

While explaining the procedure for awarding extra marks in the rechecking, he said that a committee comprising exam controller and chairman conduct the process and no one can intervene in their affairs. He added that the issue was also being investigated by a committee led by the commissioner of Mardan.

“Everyone will know the truth after the body formed by the provincial government completes the probe,” the secretary added. He also denied that the extra marks awarded to her daughter were high, adding that as high as 41 extra marks have been awarded to students by BISE Peshawar following recalculation of their exam scores.

When contacted, Commissioner Mardan Adil Khan said that the inquiry is being conducted by the District Revenue Officer (DRO) Fakhar Zaman, but he was unaware of the progress on the investigation. “I have forwarded the investigation copy to the DRO for further action but he has not gotten back to me on it yet,” he added.

DRO Zaman said that the investigation process was in final stages and the investigation copy will be submitted to the commissioner in about two days.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 29^th, 2012.