A sensational allegation of bribery, carried out under the guise of answer-sheet re-evaluation, has emerged after a student wrote his mobile number inside this year’s HSC exam script. The incident took place in Rajshahi. Spotting the number while marking the script, the examiner called the student directly and summoned him. In exchange for 2,000 taka, the student’s marks were then raised from 25 to 50. The examiner also asked the student to bring in more candidates for the same arrangement.
The incident took place on the morning of August 14 at an examiner’s home in Rajshahi city. The accused student has been identified as Mehedi Hasan, a humanities candidate from Belpukur Ideal Degree College in Rajshahi’s Puthia upazila who sat this year’s HSC examination. Recounting the incident, Mehedi Hasan himself admitted to the matter. He said that, because his English second paper exam had not gone well, he had written his mobile number inside the answer script as a tactic. When the examiner noticed the number while marking the script, he called Mehedi and summoned him to his own home. Once there, the examiner told him he had scored only 25 marks. In exchange for passing him and raising his marks, Mehedi handed the examiner 2,000 taka. After receiving the money, the examiner let him write in the script himself. Once the writing was done, Mehedi’s marks were recorded in the script as 50, up from 25.
Although Mehedi Hasan went to the examiner’s home that day with another friend, Ruhul Amin, he could not learn the examiner’s identity at the time. An inquiry, however, found the examiner to be Sekander Ali, a lecturer in English at Haji Jamir Uddin Safina Mohila Degree College in Rajshahi city. After hearing a recording of the conversation between Mehedi and the lecturer, the college’s acting principal, Enamul Hoque Mondol, confirmed it was indeed lecturer Sekander Ali.
Before meeting him, Mehedi had spoken with the examiner over the phone. In that call, Sekander Ali can be heard asking Mehedi to come in exchange for money, and telling him not to inform his guardians about it. Mehedi said if money was involved, his guardians would need to know. The examiner then said even a beggar has two, ten or twenty thousand taka on them. In response, the examiner kept saying: “No, no, it’s fine. Bring more candidates.”
On the morning of August 14, six students — Mehedi, Imon Ali, Saurav, Ruhul, Sohag and Sami — went to Rajshahi’s Binodpur Bazar. A short while later, the examiner arrived, riding on the back of a motorcycle. The group then went to the examiner’s house, where he brought out the scripts. Mehedi’s script, marked with his mobile number, was easily found, but Ruhul’s script could not be found. The scripts of the other classmates waiting at the bazar were also not found.
This reporter spoke with Mehedi on the afternoon of August 14. He said the motorcycle ride to the examiner’s house took about 10 minutes, though he did not recognise the location. After the writing in the script was finished, the examiner himself dropped them back at Binodpur. Mehedi said the examiner never told them his name; instead, he took Mehedi’s phone and deleted his own number from it. Mehedi said: “The script had 25 marks. Sir took 2,000 taka. He let me write in the script. I corrected what I had written wrong, and wrote in the blank space for what I hadn’t answered.” Asked what his marks now stood at, Mehedi said: “It’ll be 50-plus.”
A photo obtained from the students shows that the motorcycle the examiner arrived on that day, on August 14, carried the registration number Rajshahi-Ha 15-2405. The motorcycle was being ridden by its owner, Rafiqul Islam Sentu, a relative of the lecturer, whose home is in Kakalkati village, Charghat upazila. The motorcycle was found parked in front of Sentu’s house on September 5. Shown a photo, a person in the area confirmed the identity of lecturer Sekander Ali, whose home is in Belghoria village. Sekander Ali, however, denied the allegation of bringing the student to his home and having him rewrite his answers in exchange for money, when asked about it.
Haji Jamir Uddin Safina Mohila Degree College acting principal Enamul Hoque Mondol said that lecturer Sekander Ali, of the college’s English department, has long been assigned to mark HSC scripts. He said if the education board instructs any action, he would proceed accordingly. Rajshahi Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education chairman Dr Shamim Ara Chowdhury said: “If this is true, it’s a very serious matter. We will not tolerate this under any circumstances.”