Access denied: BISE Abbottabad bars media from examination halls

Controller of examinations says coverage causes unnecessary harassment for students.

ABBOTABAD: The Board of Intermediate & Secondary Education (BISE) administration in Abbottabad has barred local media from covering the matriculation examinations that started here on Wednesday.

Following previous practice, journalists from various news channels and newspapers visited different examination centres for coverage, but they were denied entry to the examination hall by the staff and were asked to seek permission from BISE Chairman, Iftikharul Mulk.



When the chairman was contacted, he referred them to the Controller of Examinations Muhammad Ali for permission. However, Mulk refused to allow any media persons inside exam halls in Hazara division.

When approached for comments, Muhammad Ali confirmed the report, saying he had received directives from the CM Secretariat and provincial education minister in this regard. Ali said although he has great respect for the media, but their coverage of examination halls is unnecessary harassment for students and wastes their time.

Photojournalist Sultan Mehmood Dogar expressed disappointment over the ban, saying that on one hand BISE claims the examination has been made transparent and they are using CCTV cameras, but on the other, they are banning the media from examination halls.

Another journalist, Syed Kamal Shah, said the provincial government had recently passed a law in the name of access to information. Barring the media from such coverage is a violation of that law, he added.

At present, 115,000 students are appearing for their Secondary School Certificate exams at 383 centres across Hazara division.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 13^th, 2014.