Teachers' appointment: KP E&SE declares private testing agency incapable to conduct tests

The elementary and secondary education (E&SE) department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has asked the same private testing agency to conduct test for appointment of teachers which it had declared incapable of doing the same task after gross irregularities and technical flaws were witnessed in the written tests conducted by the agency last month.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa E&SE department had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a private recruitment agency - Fair Testing Services (FTS) - for appointment of 4,500 teachers of different cadres including secondary school teacher (SST), certified teacher (CT), primary school teacher (PST), physical education teacher (PET), theology teacher (TT) and drawing master (DM) with the objective of ensuring transparency and merit.
The E&SE department ordered an inquiry on August 28 against the testing agency after gross irregularities, technical mistakes in questions papers, poor arrangements and lack of control were witnessed in the tests conducted for the posts of PET and TT. The E&SE department asked the inquiry committee headed by Uzair Ali, additional director of Directorate of E&SE, to conduct the inquiry, fix responsibility and furnish report within 15 days.
The E&SE department on September 17 cancelled all the written tests conducted by the same agency so far over irregularities and weak supervision and asked it to repeat the exercise within 15 days.
According to a notification issued by E&SE department, "Contrary to the established transparent process of recruitment, certain irregularities were reported during the conduct of screening tests of teachers by FTS in several districts of the province."
It said that E&SE after the verification of the reports of alleged irregularities and supervision of several examination halls established by the FTS had come to the conclusion that the FTS had failed to fulfill its contractual obligations of maintaining transparency and fair play.
"Now, on the basis of reports received from the department and independent sources, and subsequent verbal approval of the chief minister, the competent authority has been pleased to order the cancellation of all tests conducted by the FTS across the province," it read.
The education department directed the testing agency to hold fresh tests within 15 days in accordance with the terms and conditions laid down in the MoU signed for the purpose.
The notification said the department had also directed the director (education) to deploy the field staff of the relevant districts for stringent supervision of the examination centres to ensure merit and transparency.
It added that the government has been embarked on the policy of merit and transparency in recruitment of teachers for several years.
Ziaullah Bangash, Advisor to Chief Minister on Education, could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.