Twelve sets of questions of this year’s School Secondary Certificate (SSC) examinations have been leaked, says Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid adding they have no plans to scrap tests.
Speaking to the media on Thursday after the probe body filed its findings, he said only 5,000 out of the 2 million test-takers benefited from the leaks.
“Most of them have been expelled. The rest have been detained and are set to face legal actions. So, there’s no reason to scrap tests,” said Nahid.
The probe found that no creative question papers were leaked and only ‘Kha’ set questions paper of multiple choice questions (MCQ) of 12 out of 17 tests were leaked 20 minutes before the tests, said the minister.
Test-takers of school-leaving SSC and equivalent exams have to answer 70 marks of creative questions and 30 MCQs for each paper.
Replying to a query, Nahid hinted at remove MCQs from next year. He, however, said it was not final. “The prime minister has also spoken on the issue … We will let you know very soon.”
He added they will introduce questions requiring short answers.
Describing the matter of scrapping MCQs as ‘sensitive’, Md Shorab Hossain, secretary to the ministry’s Secondary and Higher Education Division, said the system will be modified.
“MCQ may be changed in to a written form. We will gradually scrap MCQ and go for creative questions. But then again, we have to consider how much a student will be able to write,” he said.