Bhurungamari Education Officer suspended over question paper leak

The Upazila Education Officer of Bhurungamari, Abdur Rahman, has been suspended for negligence of duty over question paper leak during the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exams at Bhurungamari Nehal Uddin Pilot Girls High School in Kurigram.

The Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education on Thursday (22 September) issued a notification in this regard.

Dinajpur Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education has so far postponed six exams over the incident of question paper leak.

A three-member probe committee headed by Prof Faraz Uddin Talukder, college inspector of Dinajpur Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board, has been formed.

So far six people, including a headmaster of a school, have been arrested over question leak in Kurigram.

The arrestees were identified as Bhurungamari Nehal Uddin Pilot High School's Headmaster and Centre Secretary of Bhurungamari Nehal Uddin Pilot High School Lutfur Rahman, Assistant Teacher of agricultural science Hamidul Islam, Assistant Teacher of Bangla Sohel Chowdhury, assistant teachers of the school Zubaiyer Hossain and Aminur Rahman, and peon Sujon.

Examination Centre Secretary Lutfur Rahman has been identified as the main culprit behind the question paper leak as question papers of some of the upcoming exams were found in his posession.

The question papers were in the police station for safekeeping. During interrogation,  Lutfur admitted that he stole the papers and hid them on a bookshelf at his office.

He also disclosed the name of his accomplice, Md Abu Hanif.

After being deferred multiple times due to Covid-19 and floods, the SSC and equivalent exams began on 15 September.

This year, some 2,021,868 students have registered themselves to take the SSC and equivalent exams, some 221,386 less than that of last year.

The SSC and equivalent examinations were scheduled to end on 18 October.