Successful candidates to retake Dhaka University ‘Gha’ unit admission tests on Nov 16

Dhaka University has set Nov 16 as the date for nearly 18,500 students to retake the ‘Gha’ unit admission tests after the first exams were marred by question paper leak allegations.

The fresh tests would be held for an hour from 3pm on that day, the university said on Friday.

Social sciences faculty Dean Prof Sadeka Halim, who is the chief coordinator of the fresh tests, told bdnews24.com that the exams would be held following the rules set for the first tests.

The candidates will have to download admit cards from the university’s website, she added.

The university decided to hold the tests again for the students who cleared them in a meeting last Tuesday to put an end to the debate over the question paper leak.

As many as 18,464 or 26.21 percent candidates passed the first tests, according to the results announced after a delay due to an initial investigation into the leak allegations.

It turned out that 70 of the 100 candidates who aced the tests could not even clear the admission hurdles of other units, prompting the university students to come out in force demanding the results be declared void.

A parent of a candidate who failed the ‘Gha’ unit tests filed a writ petition over the same demand on Sunday.

Ruling Awami League’s student front Bangladesh Chhatra League had also submitted a memorandum to the VC demanding fresh tests before the deans’ committee sat for the meeting.

The admission test was taken in 81 centres in and outside the Dhaka University campus on Oct 12.

Journalists found fourteen images of a handwritten question paper of the unit’s entry test about 31 minutes after the exam had begun.

But it was found that the question paper was on a student’s phone 43 minutes before the test commenced.

The university formed a three-member panel to investigate the alleged leaks of the admission test questions.

Law enforcers have arrested six people for their alleged involvement in the leaks.

Vice-Chancellor Md Akhtaruzzaman, however, had escalated the debate with claims such incidents had been left unaddressed in the past but they are taking action now.