Badrul Huda Sohel :
In recent times, in addition to public examinations, repeated leaks of questions in government recruitment tests have given rise to new concerns. Recruitment tests are considered to be the gateways for a candidate to enter the workplace after completing his academic life. After a long preparation with full of hope and enthusiasm, an unemployed person has to undergo some job tests to get rid of his unemployment. When he hears the news of the question leakage just after appearing at any test, he becomes frustrated and hopeless, and thus the reluctance to prepare for the job test gets rooted in his mind.
And we, the conscious guardians, are even more overwhelmed seeing this malpractice. Despite the fact that the allegation of leaking the question is found, the concerned authorities hardly take the matter into account and do not hesitate to publish the results of the said test. Despite having serious allegations of leaks or one or two instances of leaks in the media earlier, the recruiting department has always denied the allegations. They never want to take the responsibility for their failure. And because of this, wrath among job seekers is extremely high today. Recruitment exams are now being tarnished and questioned due to a number of unscrupulous circles.
In this age of mobile telecommunications, however, the old method of leaking questions has changed. Questions are sent out of the test center by just a snap on electronic device or phone. Some unscrupulous members of the organized circle quickly solve the question and send it to the small device attached to the ear of the candidate sitting in the exam hall. There have been several cases of being caught while using this method in the tests held previously. In a word, with the advancement of technology, these vicious circles are not far behind in discovering unethical methods of leaking questions.
Undoubtedly the educated youths are the future leaders. They will lead the country and the nation. If the recruitment processes are not fair and transparent, then the nation will go astray with dishonest recruitment. That the meritorious generation will govern the country and nation is always desirable. If honest, competent and meritorious people cannot enter the administrative system of the country, then the nation will have no backbone. A nation without spine and talent can never move forward towards development. It is natural that those who enter into government departments adopting unfair means at the time of their recruitment, are likely to be involved in injustice, bribery and corruption later.
I think those who think of entering the government and private services through leaking of question papers and those who are directly or indirectly involved in such evil deeds are the foes of the country and the nation. These kinds of enemies are not new as we had those in 1971. The conspiracy that our predecessors witnessed to make the country meritless by killing the great intellectuals on December 14, 1971, is another new intrigue to ignore the meritorious and give jobs to the incompetent candidates by leaking questions. We must stop this conspiracy to protect the nation.
We all need to be uncompromising about transparency in recruitment exams. Past experience has shown that recruitment examinations under the Bangladesh Public Service Commission (PSC) were the most acceptable and non-controversial. PSC has been organizing large BCS recruitment exams in division-wise across the country at a time for long; it has been gaining the confidence of the people till now. PSC may lack manpower but knows how to conduct the tests. We, therefore, cannot expect this institution to take the charge for all types of recruitment tests. But we hope the government will urge other institutions to learn process from PSC. In this case PSC can provide training to other recruiting departments on recruitment process and examination management.
Unemployed youths are rushing to Dhaka especially on Fridays to sit for the exam. On the day of the examination, they come to the capital from all over the country and take part in the recruitment examination after enduring many hassles. And if the question is leaked in that test, then it is nothing but a kind of farce with them. Thousands of teachers and officials are to be recruited soon in government primary schools and government banks. The authorities have to keep a watchful eye on this matter now.
We do not want to build a nation without conscience by gaining employment through corruption. Now is the call of time to identify all the culprits involved in question paper leakage. Through the existing law, they should be brought to book. The idea of building a merit-based society and country with any kind of flexibility or relaxation in this regard is illusory and hallucinatory.
(Badrul Huda Sohel is Assistant Professor and Chairman, Department of English, Ishakha International University).
