Bagerhat, Feb 3 (UNB) – Distribution of ‘wrong question paper’ among the SSC examinees in some centers on the first day of the examinations on Saturday won’t affect their results, said Controller of examinations of Jashore Board Madhab Chandra Rudra.

“There is nothing to worry over the distribution of wrong question paper as there will be no difficulty in evaluating the answer scripts and it will not affect their results,” he told UNB.

31 students of Bagerhat Government Girls’ High School in Bagerhat, 48 students of Champafal APC School Centre in Kaliganj upazilao of Satkhira district and five students of Sharsha Benapole High School in Jashore district were given question papers based on 2018 syllabus instead of 2019 syllabus  on the first day of the examination.

Earlier on Saturday, SSC examinees at various centers across the country, including Manikganj, Munshiganj, Gaibandha, Chattogram, Satkhira, Bagerhat, Cumilla, Panchagarh and Chandpur were given wrong question paper sets prepared on a different syllabus during the Bangla 1st paper examination.

Kushtia, Feb 2 (UNB) - Ricky Halder, a Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinee from the Perfect English Version School & College in Kumarkhali upazila under Jashore Education Board, sat for his exam at night, a first in the history of the board. 

Ricky belongs to the Seventh-day Adventist Church, a Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in Christian calendar, as the Sabbath.

Sabbath is a day of religious observance and abstinence from work, observed by Jews from Friday evening to Saturday evening. Adventists also abstain from secular work, including writing, during the day on Saturday.

Ricky sat for his exam at Kumarkhali MN High School from Saturday 6 pm to 9 pm where Maulana Abdul Hakim, a teacher of the school served as the invigilator.
 
Kumarkhali Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Rajibul Islam Khan visited the center. 

After finishing, Ricky told reporters that it was an amazing experience for him, adding the questions were “easy”. 

Ricky will similarly appear for his Math, Chemistry and Science tests on February 9th, 16th and 23rd respectively, at night, the first such case in the  history of the board.

Controller (Exam) of Jashore Board Madhab Chandra Rudra said they decided to allow Ricky to sit for exams after dark on Saturdays following a petition filed by him.

Centre Secretary of Kumarkhali MN High School centre Firoz Mohammad Bashar said they made arrangements for taking Ricky’s night exams on Saturdays following the board’s instruction.

Accordingly Ricky entered the center at 9am with other students but was kept in a separate room all day long to prevent him from gathering the questions from other examinees. 
 

Dhaka, Feb 2 (UNB) –Gross mismanagement marred the first day of this year’s Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent examinations, as candidates at various centers across the country were given the wrong question paper sets according to a different syllabus.

This year’s SSC examinations commenced on Saturday with the Bangla first paper starting at 10am.

Many students from two previous sessions (2017 and 2018) were also sitting for the exam as irregulars and seating arrangement in many centers put them with the regular students. Primarily, that is being put forward as the cause behind the gross mismanagement, and the centre secretaries are being held responsible in most cases.

According to reports coming in from various parts of the country, many candidates were given the 2018 exam paper at first. Only after the mistake came to light did the authorities replace them with the correct one meant for 2019 examinees, or take the exams again (where the fact came out only after the exam).

But in at least two districts, the mistake went unacknowledged till after the exam and students there face uncertainty over whether their Bangla I exams will be held again or not.

In Chattogram, examinees sitting in eight centres were supplied the 2018 question paper.

Chattogram Education Board Exam Controller Md Mahbub Hasan said that errors were reported at seven centres under the supervision of the Chattogram Education Board and one under the Dhaka Education Board.

“Due to the errors of the centre secretaries, students who were to sit for the 2019 syllabus were given question papers set according to the 2018 syllabus,” he said.

He also said that centre secretaries of the said eight centers have been served with showcause notices.

In Satkhira, examinations of 48 students were taken on the question paper of 2018 at Champafal APC School centre in Kaliganj upazila.

The issue only came to light after the exam was over, at which point centre authorities took the exam anew with the correct question paper, with permission from the board authority of Jashore.

Later, Kaliganj Upazila Executive Magistrate relieved three school staff including secretary of the exam centre of their duties.

In Munshiganj, at least 78 students faced the same fate of sitting their exams on last year’s question papers at AVJM Government High School. The mistake didn’t come to light till later and the students are now in an uncertain position.

“We have informed the matter to the controller office to take necessary steps ahead,” said Additional Deputy Commissioner (Education and ICT) Asma Shahin.

In Manikganj, around 600 hundred students of Doulatpur PS Government Model High School in Doulatpur upazila staged a demonstration in front of the centre after they were forced to sit their exams with the question paper from previous year.

The furious SSC candidates claimed that they were given the 2018 question paper for their Multiple Choice Question section, and hall authorities tried to hide their mistake during the examination.

In Gaibandha, at Fakirhat Dimukhi High School centre, previous year’s question papers were provided to 110 candidates.

Later, the school headmaster and Centre Secretary Md Shafiqul Islam was issued instant show-cause notice.

In Panchagarh, examinees at Atowari Government High School were given the 2018 question paper which students returned to the examination hall secretary after 20 minutes. They were then given the correct question paper, but only seven extra minutes to finish their exams.

The same incident took place at Pilot Girls School and College exam centre in Boda Upazila where examinees got the correct question paper 20 minutes late.

In Cumilla, the right question paper was distributed 45 minutes late as the fourth set of was missing from the bundle at Duaria AG Model Academy in Debidar upazila.

The academy principal and examination centre secretary Md Abu Selim Bhuiyan was suspended after the incident.

In Chandpur, the students were first provided with question paper of 2018 at Rampur High School and Hajiganj Girls' Pilot High School centres, said Hajiganj Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Boishakhi Barua. Later they were replaced.

Dhaka Education Board Chairman Ziaul Haque told UNB, “Some incidents of distribution of wrong question papers have been reported. We are collecting details of these incidents and will take necessary steps in this regard.”

The students were provided with extra time to finish their exams after issuing the right question papers, he added. But as reported, in many cases the extra time provided was not adequate.

Meanwhile, a total of 1788319 students appeared in this year’s SSC exam while 10387 were absent. Twenty-four students countrywide were expelled for various reasons.

Islamic University, Feb 2 (UNB) - A workshop on ‘Effectiveness of university management’ was held at Islamic University (IU) in Kushtia on Saturday with a view to creating qualified officials.

IU Institutional Quality Assurance Cell organised the workshop at the seminar room of IU Central Library in the morning.

IU Vice-Chancellor Professor M Harun-Ur-Rashid Askari addressed the workshop as the chief guest while the Deputy Director of Bangladesh public administration center Dr M Zohurul Islam attended as the resource person with the Director of IQAC Professor Abdus Sobahan in the chair.

Pro-VC Professor M Shahinoor Rahman and acting Registrar SM Abdul Latif spoke as special guests.

Hundreds of university officials participated in the workshop where the speakers urged them to build themselves as skillful manpower to ensure qualified education at the university.

Dhaka, Feb 2 (UNB) – Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni on Saturday said the government would take tough measures to prevent the leak of question papers of Secondary School Certificate and equivalent examinations.

The minister made the remarks while visiting an examination centre at Bangamata Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib Government Secondary School at city’s Ashkona in the morning.

“We have taken foolproof measures to hold the examinations in an atmosphere free of unfair means and question paper leak,” she said. “No question papers were leaked last year. We have strengthened the system this time.”

She warned of stern measures against anyone trying to leak question papers. 

“The students are our future. It is possible to hold exams fairly with everyone’s assistance,” the minister said. “There won’t be any question paper leak, if there’s no demand for them. The guardians have an important role to play here.”

This year, 21,35,333 students are sitting for SSC and equivalent examinations that began across the country in the morning. 

Meanwhile, coaching centres will remain closed from January 27 to February 27.