Question leak becomes phenomenon

Maths question leaked too, 14 arrested so far

Question paper leak has emerged as a phenomenon of the ongoing Secondary School Certificate examinations as the mathematics multiple-choice question portion was allegedly leaked an hour and a half before the exams on Saturday morning.

Questions, at least the multiple-choice portion, have allegedly been leaked well before each day’s examination and 14 people, including five teachers, have so far been arrested since the secondary terminal exams began February 1. Examinees and their parents alleged that the mathematics multiple-choice question portion along with the solutions was available on Facebook at about 8:30am, while the three- hour exam began at 10:00am.

A student needs to answer multiple-choice questions for 30 out of 100 marks for the paper. The law enforcement agencies arrested three people, including a teacher, in Rajshahi, Sherpur and Gazipur on Saturday.

Sripur police station assistant sub-inspector Joynal Abedin said that a teacher, Amjad Hossain, was arrested Saturday morning just few minutes before the exam started for allegedly attempting to leak the question paper. ‘Amjad, headmaster of Dhonai Bepari High School at Sripur in Gazipur, was trying to pass the question paper,’ he said.

New Age correspondent in Rajshahi reported that Rajshahi City College student Rabia Islam Riya was arrested while she was solving the questions collecting the leaked question paper over her smart phone, said Boalia police station officer-in-charge Aman Ullah. 

In Sherpur, Solaiman Hossain was held for his alleged involvement in question leak, said Sherpur sadar police station officer in-charge Nazrul Islam. Police also filed cases against them under Public Examinations (Offences) Act, 1980.

In Sylhet, a youth, Dilwar Hossain, was arrested at about 9:30am after finding images of leaked questions on his smart phone, said Biman Bandar police station officer-in-charge Mosharraf Hossain.

Guardians and examinees alleged that earlier questions of English second paper, Bangla first and second papers and religion and moral education in the secondary terminal exam were leaked.

Affected examinees and guardians blasted the education ministry for its failure to stop the question papers being leaked. They said that the steps taken by the education ministry were mere eyewash and yielded no results.

Inter-education board controllers of examinations convener Tapan Kumar Sarkar said that they got an allegation of question leak but the match between the leaked and real question paper was not confirmed. ‘We are aware of the issue and trying to figure out the source of the question leakage’ he said.

Attending a programme as chief guest in Rajbari, state minister for technical and madrassah education Kazi Keramat Ali on Friday denied the allegation of question leak and said vested interests were trying to malign the government and the ministry as well by spreading rumours. 

The education ministry said that the coaching centres were kept shut during the secondary terminal exams and the examinees were asked to take their seats at the exam halls 30 minutes before the exams.

The government on February 4 formed a high-powered committee to monitor and investigate the allegations of question leak in the ongoing public exams. On the same day the education ministry announced a bounty of Tk 5 lakh for anyone helping in the identification of people involved in the question leak. The measures brought no visible results.

Guardians of several examinees in capital alleged that they had got several photographs of the mathematics multiple-choice questions. They said that they found uploaded pictures of set-B questions on Facebook groups ‘Psc Jsc Ssc Hsc Job Degree Honrs Nebondon Polytechnic Reall Out Question’ at 8:44am, ‘PSC • JSC • SSC • HSC Exam Helping Center’ at 9:00am and a Facebook messenger group ‘SSC Ganit 2018’ at 8:30am.

Allegations of question leaks in Primary Education Completion exams after Class-V, Junior School Certificate exams after Class-VIII, Secondary School Certificate exam after Class-X and Higher Secondary Certificate exam in 2017 had also surfaced ahead of the exams.

• Courtesy: New Age/Feb 11, 2018