Aspiring candidates for educator posts await NTS exam result

Aspiring candidates for educator posts await NTS exam result
Rawalpindi
The Punjab Education Department has failed to intimate about eligibility or ineligibility to thousands of aspiring candidates who had appeared in the National Testing Service (NTS) examination for recruitment of educators in the province.
No merit list of the candidates is either available at the NTS website or the website of Punjab Education Department. Consequently, the candidates who cleared the NTS test still have no knowledge that what they were supposed to do for applying as educators. The education department has neither sent any letters to the successful candidates nor published any list of candidates on the websites.
Only a few people through hearsay came to know that the office of Executive District Officer-Education (EDO-E) is accepting applications till January 26.
According to credible sources, the candidates who appeared in the NTS exam have still not received the result cards but some candidates who went to the EDO-E office for submission of applications said that the office rejected their applications on the basis that original NTS result cards were not attached.
Meanwhile, some candidates faced hardships after they produced a downloaded result card of B.Ed from Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) as the EDO-E office rejected their applications on the basis that they needed to submit original result cards. Whereas the AIOU has not yet dispatched result cards to its students.
The Executive District Officer-Education (EDO-E), while talking to this scribe, said that it was not the responsibility of the education department to either intimate the candidates through letters or emails that they were eligible to apply for the posts of educators. “We did mention the whole process in our advertisements dated December 15 and 16 and if anyone wanted to know about the details he can read these ads,” the EDO-E said. Candidates can use downloaded result cards of NTS but those who recently cleared the B.Ed exam of AIOU must need to submit original result cards otherwise they cannot avail the chance, the EDO-E further said.
To a question why details were not mentioned on the website of Punjab Education Department, the EDO-E said that the website is in the process of making so it could not be updated.
In civilised countries, whether you apply for the job of a peon you are constantly informed about next procedures. All candidates while applying for the NTS test had submitted their email addresses and education department could at least send emails to the candidates apprising them about the next procedure for the job but here the proposition seems to be like where a candidate will be only responsible if he or she fails to meet the deadline, while the education department has no concerns whatsoever.
The Punjab Education Department has to appoint 18,470 educators all over the province and in Rawalpindi district 1,886. Applications for appointment of educators were invited in November 2014 and the last date for submitting is 26th of the current month. In Rawalpindi, applications are being collected at Denny’s High School where officials are deputed to collect the forms from the intending candidates. According to rules, only those candidates are eligible for tests for educators who have cleared NTS and obtained 50 per cent or more marks. However, this criterion is not being followed and total violation is being made while collecting forms for tests and interviews for appointing educators all over Punjab.
SES Teachers Association President Shafiq Bulawaliya has criticised the concerned authorities for not declaring the results of those candidates who appeared in NTS, who otherwise have cleared it according to website but the officials not accepting it and declaring it invalid.