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The government has identified six reasons behind leaks of question papers of public examinations.
The reasons were identified at a high-level meeting called by Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid at the Secretariat in Dhaka on Tuesday.
Home Minister Asaduzaaman Khan Kamal and Telecoms and ICT Minister Mustafa Jabbar attended the meeting.
Six secretaries also joined the meeting held from 3:30pm to 5:30pm.
According to the minutes of Tuesday’s meeting on ways to hold public exams properly, the ministers and officials identified six reasons behind the menace.
These are:
>> The question papers are exposed to around 250 employees of the Bangladesh Government (BG) Press during editing, printing and packaging.
It is possible for a group of three to four of them to memorise and leak the question papers.
>> There are allegations that exam officials at many centres don’t follow the rules properly to distribute question papers after getting those from the treasuries through executive magistrates or other officials in charge of distributing those.
>> Additional centres have been approved, but the government does not have adequate officials to manage those.
Besides this, many of these centres are situated far from the main centres, and so the secretaries at these main centres have to open the sealed packages of question papers long before the examinations start.
>> It has become difficult to control the use of smartphones by the test-takers and teachers and officials in charge of the exam centres.
As a result, the question papers spread on the social media because of a few teachers and officials.
>> There are scopes of expanding the law enforcers’ activities to identify the leakers, using the social media, and take action against them.
Bolstering the law enforcers' activities 15 days before the start of exams can be effective.
It appears that the detective agencies cannot monitor the situation due to lack of manpower and infrastructural and technological problems.
As the miscreants are evading immediate arrest and punishment, the others are encouraged to do the crime.
>> BTRC does not have anything to control the social media effectively, which has led to the failure to identify those who upload the question papers and block their accounts.
The meeting was held a day after a government committee submitted its report on question paper leaks.
The committee was formed amid widespread criticism over the leaks and the spread of the leaked papers on the social media.
The committee, headed by Secretary Alamgir, found the allegation of leaks true.
They are Secondary and Higher Education Secretary Sohorab Hossain, Public Administration Senior Secretary Mozammel Haque Khan, Public Security Secretary Mostafa Kamal Uddin, Post and Telecommunications Secretary Shyam Sunder Sikder, ICT Secretary Subir Kishore Choudhury, and Technical and Madrasa Education Secretary Md Alamgir.
Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission Chairman Shahjahan Mahmood and top officials of related ministries and law-enforcing agencies were also present.