A boy violates section 144, which has been imposed for the Matric examinations, by standing on the rooftop of a school in Hyderabad on Monday. PHOTO: INP
The incident left the student at the Delhi Government Boys Secondary School with a bleeding nose and impaired vision, as his glasses were shattered glass spectacles.
"Did I put this material in your underwear or was it your mother who arranged it?" yelled Warsi, as he continued to insult the 15-year-old, subsequent to his hard slap.
The exam centre's superintendent and principal at the school, Tariq Mehboob, pointed out that the student was not even cheating when the assistant commissioner asked him to rise from his seat for a body search. "Recovery of the cheating material that was not even being used does not merit any action against the candidate as per the rules," he contended. "After this ugly incident, I gave the boy an additional half hour to complete his exam, but he was crying inconsolably and was unable to write anything."
Meanwhile, Karachi Commissioner Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui, when approached by The Express Tribune, declared the incident "an outrageous act", vowing to take stern action against the public official after receiving the complete report.
The Board of Secondary Education Karachi's (BSEK) examinations controller, Noman Ahsan, said no one has the right to inflict corporal punishment on children, even if they are caught using unfair means. "Instead of taking the matter in his own hands, the assistant commissioner should have informed the centre's superintendent or the education board to take action as per the rules and regulations."
Warsi told The Express Tribune that some of the cheat sheets, better-known as pharras, which were found from the student, had 'Bismillah' written on them. "I meant it as a rebuke, so that the student would learn to at least respect religion in the future," said the assistant commissioner. "Even if my own son had done such a thing, I would have hit him. Students do cheat during exams but this is an entirely different matter."
The Sindh Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2013 clearly stipulates that no child shall be subjected to corporal punishment or mental harassment. Any person who contravenes this provision, shall be liable to disciplinary action under the service rules, states the Act.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 8th, 2014.
COMMENTS (6)
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Mishrab sahib, please pursue investigations and prosecution including death penalty against the bureaucrats, but that does not absolve the student from his guilt of cheating. The bureaucrat must pay for corruption and the student for attempted cheating. Each must pay for his/her sins. Tribune reporter has not done well by reporting it the way he has.
@Salahuddin: Whatever the story has been printed by ET, AC has no right to insult a candidate like this. Concerned authorities should take action against Mr. Warsi as per rules. I know these Bureaucrats they are not angles on earth. If you got know their corruption, you might suggest death penalty to them.
While we may disagree with the Assistant Commissioner's methods, cheating is a huge cost on society which results in poor performance in working life. The media has an important role to play in building character and morals in a society where these have degraded radically. Please, exercise caution Tribune and play your role in reforming our society. Enforcement and discipline is a fundamental building block of society. Did the reporter really think that the student had a benign interest in carrying potentially usable material on his body?
Well done, AC. Its excellent job done by the Assistant Commissioner. By doing so he taught a lesson to the young student and at the same time saved the cheater from 3 years ban to appear in the exams by not registering a formal complaint against him.
I hope ET should be appreciating the AC on being considerate in this case instead of giving the whole story a false color. By reading this report I am really wondering if the candidate is son/nephew/sibling of a journalist.
It is not for the AC to take law into his own hands. School/College instructors are the proper authority and the AC can only act if ordered to do so by the principal. This act is indiscipline on the AC's part and must be investigated.
ET stop protecting the corrupt...! I have seen the exam controllers being involved in the cheating...They are the ones who ignore these incidents and instead play active role in supplying the material in exam rooms...What was this guy doing with the cheating material in when it is clearly mentioned not to bring such things to exam room??? Yes hitting was a bit outrageous instead his papers should have been canceled and bared from board exams for two years per rules.....