Anxiety gripped 226 Alim examinees and their guardians in Sundarganj upazila of Gaibandha district, as the Madrasah Board students were apparently provided the wrong question paper during their English Paper I exam by invigilators at the exam centre.   Further complicating matters, the major error on the part of the exam centre authorities only came to light after the students had finished sitting for the exam, with no one having voiced any questions during the exam. This was only made possible by the fact that the question paper provided to them was not from an entirely different subject or year -  but rather one for 'irregular students' sitting the same exam, i.e. English Paper I. Also read : Traffic police killed in Gaibandha road accident; 3 arrested Attendance was high on the day, with 226 out of 234 eligible students attending Sunday’s examination at the upazila’s lone examination centre: the Dhumaitari Siddikia Fazil (Degree) Madrasa. The students describe an almost benign, nondescript day. Once there, the centre authorities provided them with the question paper and they proceeded to answer them.  By all accounts, the exam passed without any overt incident, and relatively quietly. No alarms were raised at the centre itself. Later in the day, they came to know that they had been provided the question paper meant for the irregular students. "We were forced to answer the wrong question paper, with no chance of knowing," one of them said.        Expressing concern over their overall result being possibly held up over this, Abdul Aziz, another of the students, said: “We don’t know how the matter happened but the invigilators gave us the wrong question papers.” The exam centre secretary has overall authority for the conduct of examinations at each centre. That job was being filled by KYM Abdullah, the principal of the Dhumaitari Siddikia Fazil (Degree) Madrasa. Also read : Madrasha student found dead in Thakurgaon To make matters worse, he has been non-cooperative since the incident came to light. He could not be reached over phone for his comments despite several attempts over two days. Md Zafor Ahmed Laskar, who was serving as one of the invigilators and is an official of the upazila’s Young Development, said no one informed them, or raised any such issue during the exam. Despite that, he did point the finger of blame at Abdullah as the centre secretary. "Only he can be held responsible for such a catastrophic error." Laskar acknowledged that the students and guardians now face more prolonged suffering. Upazila Secondary Education officer Abdul Momin Mondal said, “It is not right to take the exam with the wrong question papers. If the board allows us to oversee the answer sheets with the answered question papers, the students will get results. Also read : SSC and HSC 2024 will be held in February, April: Education Minister Upazila Nirbahi Officer Md Nur-E-Alam said, “Entire responsibility goes upon the center secretary. No meeting has happened with him yet and I asked him to meet soon to make it clear.” Terming the incident 'unfair', Prof Kaisar Ahmed remained firm in his conviction that the centre secretary should be the one held responsible and ordered the UNO to dig into his details. Expressing deep regret over the farcical incident, the board chairman said measures will be taken in this regard.

A madrasha teacher was detained on charge of raping a seven-old-year girl in Fatikchhari upazila of Chattogram district on early Tuesday. The detainee is identified as Md Hanif, 27, an Arabic teacher of Jamirul Ulum Islami Madrasha and son of Abul Kalam of Patachhara village in Ramgarh upazila of Khagrachhari district. Locals said the victim, a second-grader of a government primary school in Guardpara village under Bhujpur Police Station of the Fatikchhari upazila, went to the accused for Arabic studies at the madrasha on Monday afternoon where he raped her in the absence of other students. The victim shared the matter with her guardians after returning home. Read: Madrasa girl raped inside school in Gazipur, case filed Motaher Hossain, a sub-inspector of Bhujpur Police Station, said the locals handed the accused over to Datmara Police Investigation Centre after catching from the madrasha around 2am. The rape survivor was admitted to One-Stop-Crisis Centre of Chattogram Medical College Hospital (CMCH) for treatment, he adding that no case is yet to register in this connection

A seven-year-old madrasha student was found dead with his throat slit at an orphanage in Boalkhali upazila of Chattogram district on Saturday. The deceased was identified as Iftekhar Malikul Mashfique, a student of Allama Hazrat Sheikh Asiar Rahman Farooque Orphanage and Madrasha located in the Charandwip area of the upazila. READ: Fire in Ctg garment factory brought under control: Fire Service MD Abdul, officer-in-charge of Boalkhali Police Station, said Mashfique’s body was found inside the orphanage around 9am. As the news spread, local residents gathered at the orphanage and demanded police action. READ: 3 fined Tk 23 lakh for irregularities in scraping grounded ship in Ctg "The body has been sent to the local hospital morgue for an autopsy. A probe is on," the OC said.

A madrasha teacher has been arrested for allegedly trimming the hair of seven students of the religious school in Laxmipur. The arrest comes barely 10 days after Sirajganj-based Rabindra University teacher Farhana Yeasmin Baten was suspended for allegedly trimming the hair of 14 students as "punishment" on September 26. The Laxmipur incident took place on September 18 at Hamsadi-Kazir Dighirpar Alim Madrasha in Raipur upazila but a video of the same went viral on social media on Friday, prompting the cops to contact the parents of the students. Manjurul Kabir, the teacher, was picked up from his home in the upazila on Friday night on a complaint from a parent, police said on Saturday. READ: Haircut humiliation: Rabindra University suspends teacher Farhana "Shaheda Begum, the mother of a student, lodged a complaint at Raipur police station in this regard on Friday," said Palash Kanti Nath, additional superintendent of police. According to the case statement, the madrasha teacher had trimmed the hair of the seven students of the madrasha as they did not comply with his repeated requests of getting a haircut. READ: Haircut humiliation: Rabindra University students continue protests The accused teacher, however, claimed it was a conspiracy to defame the madrasha. "The madrasha committee is looking into it."