PESHAWAR: Caretaker Chief Minister retired Justice Syed Arshad Hussain Shah on Monday decided to waive fee of the candidates with disabilities appearing in any kind of screening test being conducted by Educational Testing and Evaluation Agency (Etea).

A statement said that the decision was taken in a meeting of Etea’s Board of Governors held here with chief minister in the chair. The provincial caretaker minister for higher education, Dr Qasim Jan, the secretary of higher education, Arshad Khan, the secretary of health, Mehmood Aslam, and other members of the board attended the meeting.

Now persons with disabilities appearing in Etea tests will be exempted from test fee. The meeting also decided to constitute a committee headed by the provincial minister, retired Justice Irshad Qaiser, for evolving a mechanism to dispose of mobile phones confiscated from candidates during screening tests.

Various matters related to curbing cheating and unfair means in examinations and screening tests were discussed by the participants of meeting. They decided to put in place an effective mechanism to curb illegal use of technological gadgets for cheating in examinations and screening tests. The stakeholders were directed to sit together and evolve a mechanism for the purpose.

Directs officials to curb cheating and unfair means in exams

The meeting decided to take strict action against the networks of individuals involved in breaching the secrecy of examinations and screening tests.

Separately, a delegation of KP Textile Mills Association (KPTMA) led by former senator Salim Saifullah Khan called on the chief minister and apprised him of the problems faced by the textile sector of the province with special focus on the exorbitant price hike of gas for industrial sector.

The delegation expressed serious reservations over the recent decision of Economic Coordination Committee with regard to increase the price of gas for industrial sector and urged chief minister to take up the issue with the federal government on urgent basis.

The members of the delegation said that ECC had taken a decision to enhance the price of industrial gas from Rs1,238/MMBTU to Rs2,400/MMBTU. They said that if the decision was not reverted, they would be left with no other option but to close down industries in the province.

They said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was a surplus gas producing province with a total gas production of 550 MMCFD and a total consumption of 200 MMCFD whereas its industrial gas consumption was only 35 MMCFD.

The chief minister termed the concerns of the delegation genuine and ensured it to take up the issue with caretaker prime minster as soon as possible.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2023