There were times when question papers of various exams were leaked rampantly. The question papers of the public examination or the admission tests were often leaked. There were incidents of leaked question papers going viral on social media.
Question paper leak can be marked as one of the failures of this government. It has been criticised and talked over relentlessly. At one stage the question paper leak almost stopped due to various measures taken by the government. But the question paper of six subjects of Dinajpur board was leaked on the first day of the exam which garnered new concern.
A vested group of officials and employees of the education sector and the government printing press was involved in leaking the question papers earlier.
This time the secretary and headmaster of an exam centre has been identified as the mastermind of the question paper leak. He and other fellow teachers traded question papers to students for huge sums of money.
According to Prothom Alo news, headmaster and secretary of examination centre, Lutfar Rahman of Nehal Uddin Pilot Girls High School of Bhurungamari Upazila assistant teacher Mohammad Zobair Hossain and Md. Aminur Rahman was arrested in connection with the question paper leak, on Tuesday night.
Later two other teachers and an office assistant of that school were arrested. Bhurungamari Upazila Education Officer Abdur Rahman has been temporarily suspended. The Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) of that upazila has been served show cause notice.
The secretary of the exam centre, Lutfar Rahman, while bringing the questions of the first day's examination from the police station, managed to get hold of question papers of six more subjects and later copied those questions with the help of fellow teachers and distributed them among the students.
In return, they take Tk 20,000 to 30,000 from each student. When the news of question paper leak spread in the area, a student informed his private tutor, a college teacher. The teacher then informed the reporters who informed law enforcement.
Dinajpur Education Board authorities have announced reprinting of question papers and new dates of four examinations so that students do not face any problem due to question paper leak.
There are 145,000 SSC candidates in Dinajpur Education Board. The new question papers are being printed in two sets (Types) for creative section and one set for MCQ (Multiple Choice Questions) section, which will cost Tk 10 million.
The incident of question paper leak is not only painful but disgraceful for the entire nation. The accused have already been arrested and a case has been registered. Speedy trial must be ensured through investigation. It must be look into whether anyone else is involved in the crime other than the arrestees. Every education board should be more alert and aware about question paper leak.
Those who wanted to take advantage of the leak of the question paper, cannot avoid responsibility. These parents have misled or tried to mislead the students in the very early stage of their life.
Also, we would like to thank those college teacher and journalists, who reported the question paper leak to the law enforcement.
It is appalling that the teachers who are entrusted with the future of the students would commit such crime. They have not only committed the crime themselves, they involved the young students. Will there be no such thing as ethics and values in the society?