PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet on Tuesday cancelled the Feb 7 screening test held by the National Testing Service for the primary school teacher (PST) posts across the province over paper leak in several districts.

In a video briefing, elementary and secondary education minister Shahram Khan Tarakai said the NTS would conduct the screening test again in phases and without charging candidates fresh fee.

Accompanied by finance minister Taimur Jhagra and adviser to the chief minister on information Kamran Bangash, Mr Tarakai said the test’s cancellation came in light of a provincial inspection team report, which was placed before the cabinet.

NTS to hold test afresh in phases

He, however, didn’t say anything about those involved in the paper leak or their accountability. Chief Minister Mahmood Khan had ordered a fact-finding inquiry on Feb 8 into the leak of question papers for the NS teacher screening test.

The education department had received the paper leak reports from Dera Ismail Khan, Karak, Mardan, Shangla, Buner and Upper Dir districts.

Mr Tarakai said the teacher screening test won’t be taken the same day across the province.

“The test will be conducted in phases in regional or divisional level,” he said.

The minister said the PIT report was thoroughly reviewed by a cabinet committee comprising education and finance ministers and the CM’s adviser on higher education before it was laid before the cabinet.

He said the cabinet decided that all screening tests for government positions would be conducted by the Educational Testing and Evaluation Agency, a government agency, and if the ETEA was overburdened, the departments would obtain no objection certificates from the Etea to hire any private testing agency for the purpose.

Around 900,000 candidates had applied for the PST posts and 350,000 appeared in the screening test. The candidates were divided in three groups. The test of the first group was conducted from 8am to 10am, the second’s from 11am to 1pm and the third’s from 2pm to 4pm.

In the past, too, the education department had received complaints about screening tests and unconfirmed reports of paper leak, sources in the department told Dawn.

They, however, said during the previous tests, which were cancelled by the cabinet, the provincial government had directed all deputy commissioners and district education officers to monitor screening test and visit examination halls.

The paper leak was reported on the interference of the district administration and officials of the education department.

The provincial government has been conducting screening tests for the appointments of government departments since 2014. However, as the number of testing agencies has increased, the questions about tests have also gone up.

The cabinet also decided to form more zones in the province under the KP Public Service Commission and formed a committee headed by finance minister Taimur Jhagra to review the matter.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2021