Jatiya Party MP Bablu calls for sacking Education Minister Nahid as question leaks continue

Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu has demanded Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid be fired for his failure to stop leaks of question papers in public examinations.

“I demand that the education minister resign immediately admitting his failure, corruption and irregularities,” the opposition Jatiya Party MP said in parliament on Monday.

“Otherwise, I request the prime minister to sack him and appoint a new minister for the development of the education sector and to increase the quality of education,” he added.

After question papers of almost all the public examinations were leaked last year, the education ministry took a raft of measures to stop the leaks, which include mandatory entrance of the candidates to the centres half an hour before the SSC exams start this year.

The leaked multiple-choice question or MCQ sections, however, spread on the social media about an hour before the exams of Bangla 1 and 2 papers. The leaked question papers matched the original ones.

Bablu, a member of the Jatiya Party’s Presidium, said he is seeing media reports on the issue every day.

“It has spiralled out of control,” he said.

After an emergency meeting at the Secretariat on Sunday, Nahid announced Tk 500,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a leaker, but no arrest was made until Monday night.

Bablu said he saw on Monday one Facebook user going by the name ‘Tushar Shuvro’ claims to have leaked question paper and he was asking for money in exchange for the leaked questions.

He criticised Nahid for ‘his failure to improve the standards of education’ and for his recent comments on bribery.

“The number of educational institutions is rising. But students cannot write either Bangla or English properly after securing GPA-5,” he said.

“How can he continue as a minister even after admitting that he himself takes bribes like many other ministers?” the Jatiya Party leader asked and expressed hope that the prime minister will take tough action.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was present in parliament when Bablu raised the demand, but Deputy Speaker Fazle Rabbi Miah replied to Bablu’s comments.

Fazle Rabbi said the prime minister would surely do whatever necessary for the nation’s welfare.

“But I think we should refrain from making such comments in parliament that cannot lead to a result,” he said.