High failure rate, alleged tough marking

BANNU: Enraged candidates, who had either failed or achieved lower scores in the intermediate and matriculation examinations on Monday ransacked the offices of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Bannu after alleging that not fair marking was done.

A number of candidates scaled the wall of the BISE Bannu. They smashed the windowpanes and broke down the flowerpots placed there to vent anger at the results.One of the protesters suffered an electric shock when he accidentally touched a live wire during the protest. He was rushed to the nearby hospital.

However, the young man was discharged from the facility after receiving treatment. The assistant commissioner and police officials, meanwhile, rushed to the site and held talks with the protesters.

They assured them that Commissioner of Bannu Abid Wazir would meet the acting chairman of the BISE Bannu on September 18 on the issue. This calmed down the protesters who dispersed after the assurance.

Earlier, Mujahid Raheem, who was leading the protest, complained to reporters that BISE Bannu had been turned into a laboratory for carrying out experiments which made the students suffer.

He alleged that a tough policy was adopted while marking the answer sheets of the candidates in the annual matriculation and intermediate examinations.Citing an example, he said that the candidate who topped the BISE Peshawar exam was given 1166 marks out of 1200 while the top student in BISE Bannu was awarded 1107 marks.

He said the cluster policy enforced by the BISE Bannu should be discontinued and the candidates who had secured lower marks should be allowed to go for improvement.The protester pointed out that 15,000 candidates had failed the inter while 10,000 the matriculation examinations which, he said, was an injustice to the southern belt of the province.

Giving the background to the protest, he said a week deadline had been set for the BISE Bannu authorities to meet the demands but the board chairman and the controller of examination bother remained unavailable which forced the candidates to stage the protest.