After playing havoc with the country's almost all public and major admission and vital recruitment examinations, the question-leak pestilence has made its onslaught on some rural primary schools. A few pieces of news could be more distressing. It has obviously stupefied the sensible sections of society. It amounts to pushing children into a kind of dreary labyrinth at the beginning of their careers. To the utter shock of the saner people society, a section of criminally disposed elements now seems to be bent on nipping in the bud the nurturing of the time-honoured virtues inherent in children. Apart from knowledge, these attributes include lessons in facing the outside world in competent and enlightened ways.
The evil attempt to leak primary students' final exam question papers has obviously been prompted by greed for money. Leaks of question papers throughout the country have been the order of the day in the last few years. The latest leaks of question papers have hit students in grades ranging from 1 to 4. Given the extent of the hideousness of the question paper-leak saga, social observers may also start fearing a crisis, one which is set to hit the country's whole sector dependent on crucial examinations. It also includes many recruitment tests for employments. The menace of question paper leak has now clawed at the very core of the nation's potential for growth based on the basic pillars of moral and ethical values.
The Education Minister has in a way demonstrated his helplessness in coping with the seemingly unwieldy imbroglio. He has accused a section of teachers of being involved directly in the whole nasty game. The crime-busting law enforcement agencies in the past few weeks appeared to have gone all out to ferret out the persons and syndicates involved in question paper leaks in exchange for hefty amount of money. Arrests were made, suspects taken on remand, and cases were filed. The nabbing of a staffer at a private press in Dhaka assigned to printing question papers of Dhaka University admission test points to the cavalier manner in which examinations are lately conducted in the country. In spite of the remarkable increase in the intensity of drive against question paper leak, many cannot take heart. As they observe, like many other campaigns it is also feared to peter out as the year's exam season nears end. The gravity of the malady, now a national one, has been amply proved with the intervention of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), in the crisis the education sector finds itself mired in. The anti-graft watchdog has not minced words as it held officials at education boards, the government press and other government officials responsible for question paper leaks.
Calling the muddled exams episode worrying, passing the buck to others and recommending measures against the syndicates may not suffice this time. There's no option other than a complete overhaul of the exam system and taking steps to uproot the menace once and for all. The rot has already begun showing symptoms of gangrene. The policy-makers can ill afford to look the other way and remain blasé with a national menace gaining more force every year. The whole education and exam system seems to be badly in need of a complete cleansing.