Education and Primary and Mass Education Minister Dr ANM Ehsanul Hoque Milon has said school and madrasa board exams will in future be held with the same question papers, to find out why madrasas are said to get more GPA-5 results.
He said this as chief guest at the 34th founding anniversary of Bangladesh Open University (BOU) on Wednesday, 28 October.
“Madrasas get the most GPA-5s. Everyone asked me what can be done about it. I said that from now on madrasas and schools will have the same questions. Or should they be different? Why? There is no reason for them to be different. Admission to Dhaka University and everywhere else is in the same subjects, with the same questions. So from now on, school and madrasa exams will be held with the same questions, and then we will see why madrasas get more GPA-5s, and then we will examine it,” the minister said.
Describing the re-checking of answer scripts, the minister said results had changed for a large number of students. He said that after the scripts of about 1.2 million students were re-checked, 45,000 students’ GPAs changed. About 5,000 students went from fail to pass, and 3,079 got GPA-5.
Alleging irregularities in marking, he said steps would be taken to identify the examiners involved and bring them to justice, and examiners would also be trained. “Whichever examiners did this mischief, I will bring them to justice,” he said.
On the transfer of MPO-listed teachers, the minister said: “This is a huge burden on my head! I set up the NTRCA in Begum Khaleda Zia’s time. Through the NTRCA we would give certificates, the teachers would go to the local management committee, and they would make the appointment. The last government gave certificates wholesale, appointments wholesale and postings wholesale all over the place!”
“Now someone from Kachua has taken the Rangpur posting, someone from Rangpur has taken Barishal, and someone from Barishal has taken Khagrachhari. When I came in, it all landed on my head that we have to do transfers. Obviously, if there is a Rangpur man in Kachua, I send him to Rangpur. I had an app made to do the transfers,” he said.
On teachers’ transfer requests, he said: “Now everyone wants a transfer. From Kachua they want Viqarunnisa! From Kachua they want Ideal School! From Kachua they want Monipur, Shaheen School! Do you understand?” On the pressure from teachers, he said: “MPO-listed teachers, as teacher representatives, threaten me that if the transfers are not done by 31 October, they will see to it! See to whom? Me! You are an MPO teacher; you go and teach at your school or madrasa. That is not your job, it is mine! Let me do it!”
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report