Causes behind question leak

The virus of question leak shows no sign of succumbing to the aggressive legal antibiotics administered. Gangs involved in leaking questions of public examinations, admission tests, written examination for superior services (Bangladesh Civil Service) or other lucrative jobs are getting caught, often red-handed, in their act. Yet the unholy business goes on, thanks to desperate operators and adoption of newer technologies and devices by them.

The fact is coveted jobs and seats at the reputed public universities of the country are limited and those who vie for those are ready to make the ultimate compromise possible. Demands for a place in the elite panels of job and in the list of the qualified admission-seekers are so keen that even many parents and guardians stoop too low to objectively judge their role when they part with the large sum of money often in the range of half a million to one an a half a million. Had society been in the right frame of mind, parents would never have assisted their sons and daughters in this unethical agreement and collaborated with those engaged in question leak. If only parents were firm, transaction of money in the millions in most cases would have been impossible.

When moral turpitude is at its worst, a society can indulge in such vile practices involving education and recruitment. In fact, the system itself is to blame. When students complete higher secondary education through a countrywide public examination, they, in principle, qualify for higher education. But here admission tests are held to select the best candidates. Few however notice the repudiation of and the no-confidence expressed in the public examinations -the main criteria set for their requisite qualification.

The problem actually lies here. Educational institutions and teachers are so unreliable with huge gaps in their qualities that the education boards do not trust them in making objective assessment. In developed countries, the task of primary selection is done by schools. Schools in North America in particular do the job at the time students get admitted to class IX. Their performances are enough for teachers to recommend either for higher studies or for general or technical education. The more talented ones proceed for university education and the average and below average will never have a chance to study in a university. They can at best receive a graduation degree and many of them end up with diploma certificates.

The important thing is to make education sovereign where quality teaching and highly qualified teachers rule the roost. Random coaching -in other words spoon-fed education -cannot judge merits of students. If coaching can be abolished and class teaching restored to its premier position, the same can be done here. But highly qualified teachers with unquestioned integrity are a rare breed now. The wide gaps between urban and village schools in terms of teaching staff and facilities do not help the cause.

There is, however, no disagreement that the country can ill afford the waste of talent. Under the present system, education malpractices will simply proliferate. Let teachers be teachers in the true sense of the term. To do so, there is need for big investment in education and attracting young graduates with excellent academic calibre to the teaching profession. If they can be relied on to make a fair assessment of talent of their students, only the best crop will come out successfully to prove their worth.

Meanwhile, students sitting for O and A levels in this country are receiving education without many types of unwelcome aid. If they can, the mainstream students too will not lag behind.