Hapless parents question morality as authorities fail to stop question leaks

With JSC question leaks go unabated, many parents have raised the issue of the morality of country's future generation while some parents are allowing their kids to browse through the internet to have a glimpse of the leaked questions.

With JSC question leaks going unabated, many parents have raised the issue of the morality of the country's future generations while some parents are allowing their children to browse the internet to have a glimpse of the leaked questions.

Like the previous exams, questions of mathematics also popped up on different social media apps, and the candidates were seen scrolling the screen of their smartphones outside exam centres on Sunday instead of last-minute revision of books.

Alarmingly, the questions are now available with open internet sources though, earlier, those were used to be sold via WhatsApp or Messenger. And, the 'free' leaked questions were the same the students got in the exam hall. 

Students outside Mirpur Girl’s Ideal Laboratory Institute were seen in a hurry to search for questions on the mobile phones. At 9:10am, questions of ‘Kha’ set arrived on one’s phone who immediately started sharing them with his friends.

When asked how he received the questions, he told bdnews24.com: “I know an elder brother who provides the questions.”

When asked if the questions will appear in the exam, he said: “He gives the questions after being sure about them.”

Some parents were upset with the trend.

One of them said her son was studious, but now he is after leaked questions only. She said she and her husband were helpless now.

“We do not want our children to get poor marks in the exams. Everyone is getting them (questions),” said one guardian standing in the crowd in front of Mirpur Girl’s Ideal Laboratory Institute.

Another parent said: “I haven’t given my child any cell phone. He is seeing the questions on his friends’ mobile phone.”

Students of Police Smriti School and College, Nababerbag Central High School, and Mirpur Laboratory High School sat the JSC tests at this centre.

One student of Police Smriti School and College had a hard copy of the questions which he took inside the centre. The questions matched the ones that appeared in the exam.

A crowd of students were glued to mobile phones in front of Khilgaon Model High School.

Mokbul Hossain, the father of a female student, complained that it was the boys who get the leaked questions first.

“My daughter got the questions from her male friend. They have a group and share the questions among themselves.

“Boys are mischievous, and children easily get influenced by friends,” said Hossain, a businessman.

Another guardian, who requested to remain anonymous, said: “My son used to be polite. But after all his friends got leaked questions of ICT test, he got desperate. ‘Everyone gets the questions, why won’t I?’ this is what he says.”

bdnews24.com has so far collected all the leaked questions. Every day they pop up between 9am and 9:30am. The exam starts at 10am.

“If they cannot stop question leaks then why are they taking exams?” asked Abdul Majid, a parent.

“We are pushing our children towards immorality in the name of exams,” he told bdnews24.com.

When asked what measures the authorities are taking to stop the crime, Tapan Kumar Sarker, examinations controller of Dhaka education board, said: “We are taking all the measures needed.”

“We have informed detective agencies and Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission. They are also working,” he said.

Although there is a rule that students must enter the centres half an hour before the exam, many entered Khilgaon Model High School, a centre, at 10:20am.

One examinee from Government Colony High School, who is taking the exams at the centre, said: “This centre allows us to enter by 10:20am.”

“Half an hour is enough to go through the questions and answers,” he went on.

Secretary of this centre, Md Aslam Uddin Molla, said: “We allow them to do so on humanitarian grounds. Sometimes, they get late after being stuck in traffic jam.”

“But if there is any other reason, then the government should look into that,” said Molla.

Zinat Farhana, an assistant secretary of Mirpur Girl’s Ideal Laboratory Institute centre, said: “This is a public exam. Sometimes the children request and we let them in. Many reach late due to traffic jam. So the opportunity is given on humanitarian grounds.”

'Free on internet' 

Wicked students and their parents, who used to buy the leaked question papers, now found the leaked papers free on Facebook groups and pages.

Around an hour before the math exam, the administrators of these pages and groups posted the leaked question paper.

Many students were found checking the leaked question paper on these pages and groups in front of the exam centres just before entering those.

The question paper was made available on one of these pages, 'Sokol porikkhar proshnopotro fanser somahar', at 8:58am.

The page was deactivated sometime after the exam started at 10am. bdnews24.com took some screenshots at the time and verified the leaked question paper after the exams, and it matches exactly with the original one.

Some of the Facebook users also uploaded the question paper in a group called ‘psc jsc ssc hsc question suggestion. all board examinee 2018+2019+20+21 bd’.

One with the id 'Tanvir Hossen' promised the others of the group on Saturday midnight that the leaked question paper would be available at 8:45am next morning.

Mirpur Girls' Ideal Laboratory Institute centre assistant secretary Zinat admitted that question papers were being leaked. "And we teachers are responsible for this."

She said many schools were leaking the question papers to their students so that they can get more marks and retain their institution's reputation.

"Question papers reach the teachers first, and they leak these. Guardians are also helping the students get the leaked question papers so that they can remain in the race," she said.

She added that no question paper was leaked from her centre. "We open the question papers after 9:30am in the presence of the secretary, assistant secretary and three hall superintendents," she said.

Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid has also been blaming dishonest teachers for leaking the question papers of public exams.