Education minister’s visit to exam halls

FE Team | Published: April 07, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

HSC and Aleem examinations are on. Reports say a total of 1,141,374 examinees are appearing at the second largest public examination being held under ten education boards accross the country.
As the exam got under way in 2352 centres throughout the country, students having gone through the question paper started writing answers with undivided attention. Suddenly breaking the silence of a few exam halls in the capital entered the minister with a number of followers and media men. The minister put his affectionate hand on the shoulders of some students asking how things were. The camera lights were on with photographers getting into action. Thus the concentration of the examinees within those halls was disturbed. After a few minutes the minister left the hall with his followers for another centre for the same exercise. The minister left leaving a far-reaching impact of his short visit on the minds of the examinees. It took time for them to bring back their concentration to the answer scripts. Even after getting back home, instead of preparing for the next day's exam, these students who were lucky (!) to be visited by the minister spent much of their time for watching them in the TV news.
But it can surely be said that such visits caused considerable damage to the examinees through deviating them from their concentration. The minister could better talk to the students as they came out at the end of the exam, or he could at best talk to the officials of the centres without getting into the exam halls. Moreover, is it possible to get the picture of 2,352 centres most of them located in remote areas of the country by visiting a selected few in the capital?
This is no doubt a long drawn practice. Our present education minister has brought a lot of positive changes to the country's education arena. He commands our respect and admiration. We hope he will bring in another reform by not disturbing the students in the exam halls.
A guardian
Dhaka