At least 100 candidates missed the recruitment tests for primary schoolteachers at a centre in Barishal yesterday due to adverse weather.

A chaos occurred outside the Barishal Government College as the candidates were barred from entering the examination centre by law enforcers for being late.

Ishrat Jahan, a candidate, said police blocked her way as she was late by about half an hour for the exam scheduled at 10:00am. “We reached late due to heavy rain. We could not sit for the examination as police did not let us in,” she told this paper.

According to witnesses, police charged baton on the candidates as they started to chant slogans at one stage.

“Police were following the order of the magistrate deployed at the centre. He had ordered us not to let anyone enter the hall after 10:00am,” said Barishal Metropolitan Police Commissioner (South) Moazzem Hossain. He rejected the claim that police charged batons. 

In Jhenidah, six men were held for leaking question papers of the recruitment tests for primary school teachers.

Police had caught them from near the Arappur Bus Stand following a tip-off, said Jahangir Hossain, officer-in-charge of the Detective Branch of Police in the district.

The arrestees are Proshanta Kumar Das, Abdul Mojid, Al Mamun, Tainur Alam, Hasan Iqbal, and Ripon Hossain. Police found Tk 60,000 on them.

“They were selling each question paper for Tk 20,000,” the police officer added.  

“Jhenidah District Statistics Office checked the question papers afterwards. No question from the seized papers appeared in the actual test,” said the district’s Deputy Collector Khairul Islam.

(Our correspondents in Barishal and Jhenidah contributed to this report.)