BAJAUR/KHYBER: Authorities here on Friday decided to install CCTV cameras inside the exam centres set up for the annual Secondary School Certificate examination set to begin on April 8, insisting the initiative will prevent cheating in the exam.

The decision was made during a meeting chaired by deputy commissioner Shahid Ali Khan and attended by officials of the district administration, police, Special Branch and Malakand Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education hereat the deputy commissioner’s office.

Officials of the local education department, Education Monitoring Authority and Independent Monitoring Unit and representatives of the Private School Association also attended the meeting.

The participants reviewed arrangements for exams and vowed to ensure that the exercise is held peacefully and students don’t use unfair means, according to an official statement.

Parents voice reservations about move due to tribal culture

DC Shahid Ali Khan highlighted the government’s revised policy against cheating in exams and said there would be a zero tolerance against unfair means in the upcoming SSC exam as cheating greatly “affected the talent and creativity of students.”

He directed officials to take comprehensive and result-oriented measures to discourage the unlawful trend of cheating in exams.

The meeting decided that CCTV cameras would be installed in exam centres across the district to ensure a peaceful and cheating-free environment for students to solve their papers in halls.

It formed several monitoring teams led by assistant and additional assistant commissioners to visit examination centres on a regular basis.

The meeting also decided that the monitoring teams would regularly visit bookstores across the district from today (Saturday) to seize the materials used in exam cheating.

The participants approved special security arrangements for the examination centres, including the deployment of police officials outside every centre in large numbers.

Meanwhile, parents and tribal elders in Bara tehsil of Khyber tribal district have expressed reservations about the installation of CCTV cameras in examination centres for SSC examination.

They told reporters in Bara on Friday that the installation of CCTV cameras would “adversely affect the education” of the local girl students who were already suffering from social taboos.

The parents said that the CCTV camera move went against the local culture and the girl students would feel insecure and vulnerable to blackmailing by some “unscrupulous elements in the education department.”

They said that tribal men were interested in educating their daughters and sisters but that uncalled-for initiative of authorities could make those girls’ educational journey difficult.

The parents and elders said that instead of installing CCTV cameras, authorities should increase the number of female invigilators in examination halls to check cheating.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2025