Taking measures to prevent leaking of question papers

Assessment is considered as one of the significant components of teaching-learning process. Students, teachers, materials, methods of teaching and evaluation are the main components of teaching.

We assess our learners through public examinations which fall in the category of 'summative' assessment. Though formative and 'summative' assessments together can certify a leaner how much he/she has learnt, we depend absolutely on the 'summative' assessment in this regard. And the 'summative' assessment has become questionable because of several reasons over the last several years.

The frequent leaking of question-papers has further aggravated the situation and thrown the whole learning community in a deep crisis.

The government has formed a seven-member committee headed by Education Ministry additional secretary of administration and finance, Sohrab Hosain, to put forward recommendations on how question-papers of different public examinations can be protected and on measures to check their leak, and what actions should be taken against the people involved in the latest Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinations' question paper leakage.

The committee has placed four specific recommendations and fourteen general ones with a view to fighting this menace.

The news concerning leaking of HSC Mathematics and English Second Paper question-papers compelled the government to postpone the examination of April 09, 2014, and form a probe committee to look into the matter. On the basis of its recommendations, the Education Minister on July 02, 2014, said there must be changes in public examinations. "We cannot afford to hold the examination for more than one month, which is the trend at present," he said, adding examinations would take place without any recess except public holidays. He believes that it will leave no room for question paper leak. He said, "The changes will be brought based on the recommendations made by the recently formed investigation committee, and the opinions of experts and educationists will be elicited through workshops and seminars."

Though there is no visible direct link between the leaking of question-papers and the long gap in the examinations, the committee has recommended it as one of the ways to minimise leaking out of questions. But we should remember that students are the first important component among all the five ones in teaching-learning situation. Teachers, materials, methods and evaluation -- all are for the students. So, we cannot impose penalty on them for the wrong things and misdeeds committed by others.

It is true if there is no gap between the examinations, students will not be able to utilise or manage the leaked questions. But an examination does not require the students' mental labour only. It needs their physical, psychological and mental capabilities in combination. Given this fact, there must be a reasonable gap between two examinations to keep the students mentally and physically prepared to face the next examinations. If it is not done, they will face serious mental pressure, which may lead to another problem.

The committee members recommended the setting up of a central question bank by creating the question-papers' knowledge base and database where more than one question paper set could be prepared automatically by using Artificial Intelligence (AI). Maybe, it is a good recommendation. But we should take care to see that the 'bank' does not turn into the so-called 'question bank' developed in the past when objective questions were introduced and students' knowledge remained confined to the question bank only.

The committee has also suggested introducing a three-tier security measure, such as a password for the users, biometric and user-access cards to be used for the question-papers. The device will check that one or two persons or steps will not allow others to see the question-papers easily as is being done today. The committee's recommendations also include introduction of Digital Stamp Control to ensure opening up and distribution of question-papers in the centrally-controlled time. As per this method, the questions of different sets will be sent to the upazila and district administrations, just before the start of an examination.

From the central board concerned, orders will be made to open a particular set of questions and get it printed. It is also another effective method, but we must be ready to face any technical problems and think of their solutions. Again, a foolproof management must be ensured to print a huge number of question-papers in a short time amid uncertainty over electricity supplies.

The committee also recommended that 20 sets of probable question-papers of each subject be made as per the syllabus, and the authorities of the boards concerned should select five sets of question-papers from the twenty sets through lottery. It means leaking of questions and becoming sure of their genuineness will not be an easy task. Even if some students collect the 'leaked' questions, they will not feel interested to use them as they will not be sure as to which set is going to be used in the examination. Hence, the evil tendency to utilise leaked questions among the students and the guardians will decline sharply.

The question-papers should be kept in packets of boxes having Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) after printing those at the BG (government) press, so that only the designated officials who will have RFID-controlled chips could open the question paper boxes at the scheduled time. The committee also suggested, if it was possible, avoiding the BG press as it has been proved several times that it is the main source of 'this crime'. The ministry concerned should find out alternative ways to print the questions, avoiding the BG press.

Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid has said they would work out a detailed work plan after forming a body with educationists, exam-related, experienced officials and IT experts to identify the way of implementing the four specific recommendations coming from the committee in order to protect question-papers from being leaked out.

We welcome this decision. A unilateral step taken by the ministry people cannot come up with a wise solution. The involvement of experts and the people related to this area is a must to make the process foolproof. The government should attach due importance to the fourteen general recommendations made by the committee as well. These include: reducing the public examinations to five, finding out alternative ways to print question-papers not fully depending on the BG press, collecting intelligence reports on the people at the BG press every six months, installing a good number of close-circuit (CC) cameras in the question moderation room, selecting question setters and moderators very carefully avoiding the traditional way, cutting down on the number of MCQ questions and increasing the degree of punishment for those found involved in the wrongdoings related to question paper leak.

Another important feature should be taken into serious consideration. The committee has failed to name the people involved in leaking out the questions this year. They have identified the sources, but nobody wants to mention their names. The names must be very powerful or closely linked to influential people.  This aspect of the whole distressing affair must be dealt with utmost care.

The writer is Programme Manager, BRAC Education Programme, and vice-president, Bangladesh                   English Language Teachers Association (BELTA).                              [email protected]