THE Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) recently announced various vacant positions in elementary schools in the capital city. The last date for filing appli- cations was Sept 19, and, surprisingly, the roll numbers were issued within days, and the candidates were given only a week to prepare for the screening test. Besides, the advertisement placed in this regard was unclear on the matter of subject-wise allo- cation of seats to each province.

The test was conducted only in Islamabad, which most of the candidates skipped as they could not afford to travel all the way to the capital from different parts of the country. The test should have been held in at least the four provincial capitals.

Once the test was over, the FDE simply conveyed the status through text messages to all the candidates who had not been shortlisted for interview. The message carried not a word about the exact result of the candidate. This has raised many suspicions, questioning the credibility of the test and its results. It is the right of the candidates to know how they performed in the test. Besides, when people do not know their weaknesses, how will they try to address those areas, performing better when the next opportunity comes their way?

The FDE has simply played with the emotions of the poor and intelligent candidates. The authorities concerned should take strict action immediately to make the system fair and transparent.

Name withheld on request
Bannu

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2024