High Court weighs in

With all the government steps to stop question leak in the ongoing SSC exams turning out to be futile, several leakers now mock Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid, posting images of leaked question papers on Facebook.

Meanwhile, the High Court yesterday formed two committees -- one judicial and another administrative -- to find out those involved in the leak of question papers of public exams and make recommendations for preventing the leak.

The committees with five members each have to start work within a week upon receipt of certified copies of the HC order. They will submit reports to the court in 30 days after launching the probe.

Having the minister's photo as profile picture, a Facebook account by the name "Nurol Islam Nahid" uploaded images of leaked Chemistry "Kha" set MCQs with answers on a Facebook group around half an hour before yesterday's exam began at 10:00am.

"This time also I give you the questions earlier than anyone else at 8:00am. If you need the next one [question paper of the next exam], inbox me quickly," the account wrote in a post in the Facebook group "PSC ∙ JSC ∙ SSC ∙ HSC Exam Helping Center".

Another Facebook account by the name "MD Jisan" uploaded images of the leaked questions of Chemistry theoretical part in the Facebook group at 11:32am while the exam was still going on.

The leaked question papers of Chemistry exams, which did the rounds on different Facebook groups, were found to be identical with the original question papers.

Question papers of all the SSC exams held so far this year have been leaked out and circulated in Facebook pages hours before the tests began. And days before the exams, the leakers every time dared to announce in the Facebook pages that they would post the leaked questions there.

This is the largest-ever reported spate of SSC question paper leak that has drawn fierce criticisms with educationist and guardians fearing the education system would be ruined if the leaks continued.

Arrests have been made almost regularly and cases filed, but finding out the root cause and people behind the leak remains a far cry.

Failing to check the leaks despite strict measures, the education ministry is now expressing its helplessness and insisting on devising a new system to stop the leak.

"It is not possible to stop question leaks in public exams, keeping the existing system in place," said Secondary and Higher Education Division Secretary Sohorab Hossain yesterday.

PROBE COMMITTEES

The HC came up with the order to form the two committees after it heard a writ petition filed by four Supreme Court lawyers seeking its directive on the authorities to prevent future unfair practice in public exams.

The judicial committee will be headed by Dhaka District and Sessions Judge SM Kuddus Zaman while the administrative one will be led by Prof M Kaykobad of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).

The judicial committee also includes chief judicial magistrates of Narayanganj and Gazipur, and two deputy secretaries of the law and the education ministries.

Talking to this newspaper, Jyotirmoy Barua, counsel for the writ petitioners, said the other four members of the administrative committee are BUET teacher Prof Sohel Rahman; the director general of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education; an IT specialist and a deputy inspector general of the CID of police.