Education secretary admits taking risks over results

Education Secretary Nazrul Islam Khan has been blamed for creating a crisis of sort by defying his minister, but Nurul Islam Nahid has urged everyone ‘to not look for dispute with anyone' .

Secretary Nazrul Islam Khan now says he was only trying to hit it big as those who 'score sixes during a T20 match’.
 
Minister Nahid and Khan both briefed the press on Sunday at the Secretariat after 1.15 million students countrywide faced an unusual crisis while seeking admissions in colleges.
 
Nahid has apologised for the complications that arose when the publication of the merit list for college admission was delayed by three days.
 
Terming it as the ‘agony of development’, the minister blamed ‘technical problems and limitations’ for the complications.
 
“I am sorry. Please consider the matter with a forgiving heart,” he said.
 
“There might be small mistakes when we do something big. But we don’t want this to happen again. There lies the problem of development...agony of development,” Nahid added.
 
A journalist asked the education secretary whether he was playing a T20 match, in a reference of taking a blunt risk like players sometimes have to take in the shortest form of cricket to hit it big to win.
 
Khan said, “I’m playing specifically a T20 match under the minister’s leadership. Not just a T20, the last over of the T20 match.”
 
He said he was ‘playing the last over after consulting’ with the team leader. “So I’m definitely working after discussions.”
 
“Trying to hit a six. When one tries to hit one, he may get out... that can happen,” added the education secretary.
 
College admissions in Bangladesh have always been based on Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination results.
 
But the students had to apply online and submit fees through SMS for the first time this year.
 
The merit list was published on June 28 midnight, three days after the scheduled date due to what the authorities said was technical problems.
 
The admission seekers are now facing problems for many errors in the list. Many colleges have also suffered for the delay while admitting the students.
 
Investigations found that the secretary had disregarded a written instruction by the minister which was to include only colleges with seats above 300 into the e-system.
 
Khan had issued the admission guidelines in Nahid’s absence violating the instruction to bring all colleges under the e-system that crashed as its design was unable to cope with the large number of applicants.​

Nahid on Sunday did not give any direct answer regarding the guidelines.
 
“I was abroad at that time. We work together. Success or failure, we’ll achieve any of those together.”
 
“My request to you (journalist) – there is no reason to try to find any dispute between us.”
 
Secretary Nazrul Islam Khan said, “Different opinions may come during discussions before the decision is made. But once a decision is made, it has to be carried out.”
 
After the complications, ministry officials told bdnews24.com that if the minister’s directives were followed the number of applicants would not have been so large and the system would not have crashed.
 
Ministry officials said the proposals for the admission guidelines were given to the secretary on May 31 after proper revision.
 
It was published on June 1. But Khan reworked the guidelines ‘without notifying anyone’ and reissued it with the 300-seat clause removed the very next day.
 
Inter-Education Board Coordination Subcommittee chief Abu Bakar had told bdnews24.com that if only colleges with over 500 seats were included in the process, the complications with the servers would have been manageable.