PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has decided to implement a new attendance system for government employees, starting with the province’s hospitals. The Health Department will introduce a facial recognition system to monitor staff attendance more efficiently and ensure transparency.
District health officers and hospital administrators have been instructed to register employees and collect facial data immediately to enable a smooth rollout of the system at the district level. The facial and biometric attendance system will be applied across all health department units.
An independent monitoring unit will oversee the system’s implementation and regularly submit progress reports to the Health Department. Officials said the system aims to reduce absenteeism among health staff and improve patient services by ensuring employees are present when needed.
The notification also warns that delays or negligence in implementing the system will result in departmental action.
KP assembly passes ETEA Bill 2026 to modernize testing and recruitment systems
Meanwhile, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly has unanimously passed the KP Educational Testing and Evaluation Agency Bill 2026, which seeks to bring far-reaching reforms in the province’s examination and recruitment system.
The bill passed during a sitting on Monday gave the agency independence of finance and administration and widened its mandate outside the province and even to federal departments.
Under the new set of rules, the board of governors of ETEA would be chaired by the chief minister with a view to making sure that the process of admission and recruitment was transparent and based on merit.
According to officials, the newly granted authority would also conduct entrance tests for professional colleges and universities and recruitments from private and government institutions in screening and recruitment exams. Besides, it will conduct tests for federal and provincial governments and private organizations.
The new rules give the body more powers to punish the practice of cheating during the examinations besides having a legal right to declare a place as a test venue.
An endowment fund for supporting the operations of the body would be established. It should be noted that the bill also places emphasis on promoting research, improving standards of learning, and developing capabilities within the testing system.
According to the new bill, ETEA should present an annual audit report to the provincial assembly. The newly adopted law is meant to replace the existing ordinance from 2001.
It was explained by officials that the main purpose of the reforms is the modernization of the testing process, increasing merit selection and finally improving the education and recruitment system of the province.
