The Sylhet Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board has launched an investigation after an HSC examiner was allegedly found evaluating answer scripts with friends at a tea stall, prompting officials to seize nearly a 550 answer scripts.
The accused, Iqbal Hossain Sohan, a Bangla lecturer at Sylhet Metrocity Womens’ College, has been served with a show-cause notice, while departmental action has been initiated against him. A general diary (GD) has also been filed with Jalalabad Police Station.
According to board officials, Controller of Examinations Prof Bilkis Yasmin led a raid at around 11:30pm yesterday (1 August) at a tea stall near the main gate of SUST after receiving information that HSC answer scripts were being assessed there.
Board officials recovered nearly 550 answer scripts from the spot and were taken back into the board’s custody.
“He is one of our appointed examiners. The answer scripts were supposed to be evaluated at his residence, but we found him checking them at a public place while sitting with friends,” Prof Bilkis Yasmin told reporters.
She said the board was treating the matter seriously and that administrative action had already been initiated against the examiner.
Sylhet Education Board Chairman Prof Md Anwar Hossain Chowdhury said a probe committee would be formed to investigate the incident alongside the show-cause proceedings.
Jalalabad Police Station Officer-in-Charge Shamsul Habib confirmed that the education board had lodged a GD over the incident and taken custody of the recovered answer scripts.
Attempts by The Business Standard to reach Iqbal Hossain Sohan for comment were unsuccessful.
Local residents alleged that the examiner had also been evaluating answer scripts at the same tea stall on previous nights and that individuals other than the appointed examiner were seen evaluating the papers.
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