The long journey: Around 9,000 candidates apply for teaching assistant post

Applicants complain only one venue was chosen for seven districts, suggest Upper Dir for Chitral and Dir residents.

MINGORA:

Around 9,000 candidates from seven districts of Malakand Division appeared for the Higher Education Department Recruitment test for the post of teaching assistant at Swat Grassy Ground on Friday.

The test, conducted by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Education Testing and Evaluation Agency (ETEA), was earlier set for June 21 but then rescheduled to June 27 at the eleventh hour.

However, the bigger issue for candidates coming from Chitral was the long distance they had to cover to reach the district. They have now demanded separate venues for ETEA tests in future.



“We reached Mingora last night after travelling nine hours and then spent the night at a hotel. We will have to spend another night here and then leave early morning to reach our district by night,” said Noman Walid, a candidate from Chitral.

For women who were travelling for the test, the overnight trip is more troublesome as they could not come alone. “My brother had to accompany me here so we spent twice as much for travel and hotel rooms. The route to Swat is very long and tiresome and we will have to go back soon after the test,” said Uzma Shahid, another resident of Chitral.

Hundreds of applicants suggested a separate venue in Upper Dir for candidates from three districts: Chitral, Upper Dir and Lower Dir.

When the ETEA administration was questioned about the venue, they said they are only responsible for conducting the exam while the venue is decided by the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

“Venue and security arrangements are the responsibility of the HEC. We only conducted the test and it went smoothly,” said Swat ETEA in charge Riaz Akbar.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 28^th, 2014.