Nahid says 153 held in 52 cases over SSC leaks

Education minister Nurul Islam Nahid on Friday said that law enforcers arrested 153 people in 52 cases filed over question paper leaks since the start of Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinations on 1 February, reports UNB.

"To eliminate corruption and current problems in the education sector, everyone has to be ethical and honest," he said.

The minister was speaking at the award giving ceremony of the Ninth National Debate Competition held at Bangladesh Film Development Corporation (BFDC) studio in the capital.

He said, "We have adopted and are still adopting every possible steps to stop question paper leak. But for some unethical persons, it continues. More than 100,000 people are engaged in the SSC examination process and a few are trying to annoy us by leaking and spreading question papers through social media."

Nahid also said during the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examination, starting on 2 April, the education ministry will be more careful.

"I would like to request teachers and parents to come forward to identify those question paper leakers and hand them over to police," he added.

The debate competition "Bitorko Bikash" was jointly organised by BRAC, ATN Bangla and Debate for Democracy.

A total of 17,600 debaters from 880 schools across the country participated in the competition which was launched in January 2016.

Rashed Khan Menon Model High School of Babuganj upazila in Barisal became the champion after defeating Ishakpur Public High School of Jagannathpur upazila in Sunamganj.

The two teams argued over the topic "educational system reformation is a must to make a corruption free country".

Ishakpur Public High School team leader Sharifa Jahan won the honour of best speaker in the competition.