Teacher caught checking HSC answer scripts at tea stall with friends

A teacher in Sylhet was caught evaluating Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examination answer scripts while chatting with friends at a tea stall late at night.

Officials allege that his friends were also involved in marking the scripts. Acting on a tip-off, education board officials raided the tea stall, caught the teacher in the act, and seized 400 answer scripts from his possession.

The incident occurred at around 11:30 pm on Saturday at a tea stall adjacent to the main gate of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) in Sylhet.

The answer scripts were confiscated from Iqbal Hossain (Sohan), a lecturer at Metro City Women's College in Sylhet. He was serving as an examiner for the Sylhet Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board.

Iqbal is a former student of the university's Bangla department, having studied in the 2017–18 academic session. The board's Controller of Examinations, Professor Bilkis Yasmin, confirmed the incident.

According to witnesses, around 10:30 pm on Saturday, Iqbal was sitting at Fazlul Haque's tea stall in front of the university's main gate, grading HSC answer scripts. Two of his friends, including Airin Linza, a former vice-president of the university unit of the now-banned Bangladesh Chhatra League, were allegedly helping him mark the papers. A sack full of answer scripts was reportedly kept at the shop. Witnesses also said the group had been evaluating answer scripts at the same location on Friday night.

Tea stall owner Fazlul Haque told Prothom Alo, "I was tidying up my shop at night. They were checking papers inside. At that time, the teachers (education board officials) came and spoke to them. Later, they all left, and I closed the shop. They had also come to the shop on Friday night. They were regular customers who came here for tea and to socialise."

Following the incident, the education board took Iqbal Hossain into its custody, though he was not handed over to the police. Repeated attempts to contact him by phone for comment were unsuccessful.

Iqbal's friend Airin Linza told newspersons, "No answer scripts were seized from me. I actually have nothing to do with this. I'm a former SUST student. The teacher brought the scripts. I have no involvement. I was simply with him because he is my friend and batchmate."

Professor Bilkis Yasmin, Controller of Examinations at the education board, said, "After receiving information, we went to the tea stall at night and caught the examiner while he was evaluating answer scripts. We seized 400 answer scripts from the spot. He is now in our custody, and departmental action will be taken against him."

The officer-in-charge of Jalalabad police station, Shamsul Habib, said education board officials had brought the teacher to the police station over allegations of grading examination papers at a tea stall. After filing a general diary (GD), the board officials took him back into their own custody.