Matriculation exams: Officials say 54 staffers punished for failing to curb cheating

PESHAWAR: The Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Peshawar has taken measures to curb cheating during the ongoing matriculation examinations across six districts of the province.

The measures were implemented in Peshawar, Charsadda, Upper Chitral, Lower Chitral, Khyber and Mohmand districts under the supervision of Commissioner Peshawar Riaz Khan Mahsud, who is also chairman of BISE Peshawar.

Over 200,000 students are appearing in the examination at 713 designated centres.According to the officials, a total of 46 papers for grades 9 and 10 covering both science and arts subjects have been conducted so far. In a crackdown on irregularities, they said, 54 government examination staff members were penalised for failing to ensure transparency and prevent cheating. Of these, they said, 37 were dismissed from exam duty and blacklisted for life, while disciplinary proceedings have been initiated against them. “Their cases have been forwarded to the Elementary and Secondary Education Department for termination of service, and they would not receive any travel or daily allowances,” said an official.

Two private schools found facilitating cheating have had their cases forwarded to the Board of Governors with recommendations to cancel their affiliation with the board. FIRs have been registered against 14 people for preparing fake duty appointment letters; all 14 are currently in jail. Another four people were arrested for forging self-issued appointment letters, and separate FIRs were lodged against four private school staffers who were allegedly aiding in cheating. One official of BISE Peshawar was dismissed from service for his involvement in issuing fake appointment letters for exam duty.

Talking to reporters, Riaz Mahsud said, “We are committed to upholding the sanctity of the examination process. Any compromise on transparency or merit will not be tolerated, and strict action will continue without exception.” He added that more measures would be enforced to maintain transparency and prevent cheating in the exams, which are scheduled to conclude on April 29.