Stopping leakage of question papers: A general approach

Stopping leaking of examination question papers has become urgent. This plague, if continues, will push the nation to the bottom while impoverishing education. The Financial Express published two articles on the issue on May 13 and May 22. The first article dealt with the issue of leaking of medical entrance examination questions. We analysed the factors that cause leaking of medical entrance examination question papers. We argued that the single centralised system of medical examination is the real culprit for leaking of examination questions. Therefore, to stop leaking of question papers, it is better to decentralise the system of examination giving each medical school and college the autonomy to carry out entrance examinations with unique question sets.
In the second article, we analysed the leaking problem of BCS (Bangladesh Civil Service) examination question papers. While we argued and advanced the decentralisation technique for stopping leaking of medical entrance examination question papers, we showed that for BCS examination this method will not work. To stop leaking of BCS examination question papers, we proposed outsourcing of question papers and argued that this would ensure better transparency and  that it is better to take away the responsibility of making and managing BCS question papers from the hand of the Public Service Commission (PSC). We provided two customised solutions to stop leaking of questions papers of  the two examinations.
Yet it is possible to get a more general solution that would work for all irrespective of types of examination and the nature of institutions that carry out examination such as the PSC for the BCS examination. Moreover, we left leaking of examination question papers of Secondary School Certificate (S.S.C) and Higher Secondary Certificate (H.S.C) out of the scene.  Now, we will cover all types of competitive and national examinations that suffer from the leaking problems of question papers.
QUESTION LEAKING PROBLEM: If we describe the problem of leaking of question papers in one single sentence that carries both the clue for factors causing the leaking problem and the way out of the problem, we can state it as the 'The Axe in the Wrong Hand' problem. Let us illustrate this single sentence 'The Axe in the Wrong Hand' in very plain language to show how it contains both the information for factors that cause the leaking problem and the solution. By Axe, we mean the responsibility of making and managing the question papers and by the wrong hand, we mean the body entrusted with the responsibility of making and managing question papers for the respective examinations.
The problem starts from organisations entrusted with the responsibility of making and managing question papers. And the genesis of the problem is the manipulation power that those institutions retain and enjoy. The manipulation power in most of the cases is created and supported by political liaisons. These government institutions are circumscribed by corruption and unwanted retention of manipulation power and are most often protected by political liaisons. So the problem of leaking of question papers lies in putting the axe in the wrong hand. Therefore, the solution is to take away the axe from the wrong hand and put it in the right hand.
SPECIALISATION AND OUTSOURCING: Question papers for the medical entrance examination, BCS examination, S.S.C and H.S.C examinations, and university admission tests are prepared by authorities that are directly and indirectly influenced by political interventions.  Unwanted political interventions, along with direct and indirect ownership control of these institutions by the government, make the matter much worse generating a higher leaking possibility which is due to manipulation power retained and enjoyed by authorities belonging to respective institutions. Along with the leaking problem, the centralisation of both the preparation and managing of question papers and conducting of admission procedure through screening of applicants in the same institutions create the problem of inefficient allocation as well.
The current system for making question papers for the above examinations suffers from two serious problems: (1) Higher leaking possibility and (2) Inefficient allocation and use of resources. So, we need a solution that can overcome both of these problems. We can find an appropriate solution applying one of the basic concepts of economics and that is division of labour. By division of labour we mean here the separation of making and managing of questions for examinations from screening of applicants for admission and then allocating two tasks to two completely independent institutions which are specialised in the respective tasks.
To explain more clearly, we can imagine a situation like this. Let's say there is an institution called X that is not directly and indirectly owned by the government. The institution X specialises only in making and managing questions but not on anything else. Then assume that there is an institution called Y that can be the centralised authority like PSC. The Y only screens applicants who qualify in the test for the prospective positions and this institution specialises in this task only. Now, the question arises: what are the benefits of such division of labour?   Benefits are multiple.  First, the specialisation by division of labour will reduce the leaking possibility of questions through much more transparency and accountability. The reason is straight forward. The incentives to leak questions for the X don't seem as attractive as they are for Y if it makes and manages question papers because X will be driven by profit maximisation objective and this will restrain it to seek any incentive to leak examination questions. On the other hand, for the Y no as such motive exists and its action remains totally independent of the profit maximisation objective. Whatever it does - whether it leaks question papers or not - doesn't jeopardise its existence since Y or PSC will be there until the government exists.  Therefore, the leaking possibility will be very low or vanish to non-existence if X makes and manages question papers rather than Y.
Secondly, the separation of making and managing questions from screening of applicants in the same organisation will ensure more efficient allocation of resources with minimum inefficiency and maximum efficiency. Efficiency will come through specialisation in tasks. For example, an authority belonging to a university would do better if it specialises only in screening applicants based on the credentials that are needed to go through screening. Moreover, it doesn't seem any better idea to burden a university with both making and managing questions and screening of applicants. In fact, such kind of tasks kill the valuable time for university and respective faculty members in terms of pressure they have to handle for a task that could have been done much more efficiently if it had been given to others.
Finally, the specialisation in the tasks of making and managing of questions and screening of applicants would encourage competition in making and managing questions papers which would ensure much more transparent process. Therefore, it seems that instead of imposing the duty and responsibility of making and managing questions  to the centralised authority like PSC or to the education boards or to the centralised authorities for conducting examinations, the duty of making and managing  question papers should be withdrawn from these centralised institutions or universities and should be handed over to institutions that specialise only in making and managing question papers for competitive and national examinations. In other words, a university should outsource the task of making and managing question papers. Such outsourcing will curb the influence of manipulation power that causes leaking of questions. This seems to be a better solution for stopping leaking of examination questions for all types of competitive and national examinations. Moreover, specialisation of tasks would reduce inefficient allocation of public resources to these centralised institutions.
CONCLUSION: The current problem of leaking examination questions is in fact intrinsically related to and connected with the institutions that are given the authority to make and manage question papers. The dilemma of question leaking problem, as we have termed it, is the dilemma of putting the axe in the wrong hand. In addition, the system of making and managing examination question papers is inefficient in the sense that the system suffers from unwanted concentration of tasks. It doesn't seem to be a good idea to concentrate both making and managing and screening of applicants and conducting of examination in the same institutions. This procedure creates both the higher leaking possibility since institutions enjoy higher level of manipulation power created and supported by political liaisons and the inefficient allocation problem.
We suggest that the government should discharge institutions from making and managing questions papers while giving the full responsibility of screening of applicants to the institutions such as PSC. In the same manner, universities and medical colleges should hand over the task of making and managing question papers to some other independent institutions that specialise in making and managing question papers while keeping the full responsibility of screening of candidates qualified in examinations in their hands. Also the government should discharge all education boards from making and managing question papers while giving them the full responsibility of carrying out other administrative tasks such as issuing mark sheets and conducting examinations.
The contributor writes from the University of Denver, USA.
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