Results for the first semester of the 2023-24 academic session of a department at Islamic University (IU) in Kushtia have remained unpublished for nearly five months after more than 60 answer scripts for a course went missing, with the scripts having been handed over to the university's Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Amtaj Hossain for evaluation.

The delay has left second-year students of the Department of Islamic History and Culture uncertain about their academic schedule, as their second-semester examinations have also been postponed.

According to university sources, the missing scripts were for Course 2107, titled “History of the Modern Europe Till 1848 AC”, for which Amtaj Hossain was the external examiner.

The second-year first-semester examinations were held from May 2 to May 20.

The scripts were received by internal examiner Dr Shahabul Alam on May 11, according to the department. He evaluated them and submitted them to the department on May 20.

Later, a department staff member, Jabed Ali, handed over a bundle containing more than 60 scripts to Amtaj Hossain. The scripts have not been traced since, according to the sources.

Of the six courses in the semester, marks for five have been submitted to the chairman of the examination committee. The results, however, could not be published as the scripts for Course 2107 remained unaccounted for.

The department had scheduled the second-semester examinations from September 16 to October 3, but postponed them two days before they were due to begin, citing unavoidable circumstances.

Meanwhile, allegations have surfaced that there were attempts to prepare the results by assigning arbitrary marks to the missing scripts.

The department formed an investigation committee on September 26 with Prof Dr Shariful Islam as its convener. He later declined to take the responsibility citing family reasons, after which internal examiner Dr Shahabul Alam was made the convener.

Shahabul Alam said the investigation committee completed its work and submitted its report to the department chairman on Wednesday.

Examination Committee Chairman Prof Dr Talukdar Lokman Hakim said the department informed the committee that the marks for the course were submitted on time.

Attempts were made several times to contact Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Amtaj Hossain over the allegation, but he could not be reached.

University Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr AKM Motinur Rahman also could not be reached despite repeated attempts to contact him.