Having failed a third year course in his pursuit of a bachelor's degree in economics at Jahangirnagar University, Salim (not his real name) had applied to sit for a special examination in the third-year course he failed even as he prepared for his fourth-year final exams. Since it was one of the core courses counting towards his degree, he cannot afford to not pass it somehow.

However he will not be able to appear in the 4th -year final examination along with his batchmates, the students of his academic year, if he sits  chooses to for the examination as per the conventional rules.

Salim had applied to the Vice-Chancellor in January 2020 for a special exam to complete his graduation with the students of his academic year.

The Vice-Chancellor's office told him to contact the office of the Examination Controller. told him that the approval file had not arrived from the Vice Chancellor's office.He was repeatedly given several working days to search by deputy controller. He said that he should not come to the examination controller's office without paying the examination fee in the bank.

While he was there, Salim inquired about the approval of the examination from the Vice-Chancellor's office.

Selim isn’t the first person to face this kind of harassment from the exam controller's office. Allegedly, Nazrul Islam (initially,  charge of special examination) puts all the students who come to him in their hour of need. Even more damning are allegations that he would misplace the students' examination approval files, that are sent by the supervisors, and tells the student that "There is no special examination". Neither he applied nor his file was sent from the Vice-Chancellor's office to his office.

A student who lost the approval paper said, I applied for the special examination when the university office opened after Corona. A few days later, I found out that he (Nazrul Islam) lost my paper and instructed me to apply again.

Another case found that a student applied in 2019 but only managed to sit for the special exam he needed, finally in 2022.

According to the university rules, a fee of Tk15,000 has to be paid for each course to sit for the special examination. If the students do not pass for any reason, they apply for the special examination in order to complete their academic life on time., but due to the negligence of Nazrul Islam of the examination controller office, no student is able to participate in the examination as soon as possible.

When asked about how long the turnaround for a special exam should be, Controller of Examinations (Acting) Professor Md. Salauddin said 'three working days' should be enough for the approval letter from the vice-chancellor's office authorising the special exam. After that it is only a matter of arranging it.  There was also a suggestion that each department should conduct its own special exam every year.

If any student's education suffers just for the negligence of some entrenched officials,  this all will be held against him according to the employment rules of the university