The Department of Youth Development’s recruitment examination recently found itself in a situation of a disastrous question paper leak, leading to the cancellation of the test at the last minute. This incident is not an isolated case, but rather part of a larger problem: the system of recruitment of public sector employees in Bangladesh has long had a weakness. There have been similar allegations about leaked test material and organised syndicate operations before in high-profile exams such as those organised by the Public Service Commission (PSC), the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE) and several state banks.
There were just 242 Upazila Assistant Youth Development Officer posts. But this was offset by 319,000 potential job applicants. Needless to say, this was a highly competitive exam in the job market. But how did the recruitment authorities convey their messages to the job candidates by publishing the question papers like this? The incident has a devastating effect on the morale of students who spend months preparing for these important tests at their own expense.
Previously, the recruitment tests for different ministries were held at BUET or other institutions to ensure transparency. However, recruitment exams with these third parties were discontinued after 2020. The ministries began to administer tests independently. A festival of corruption and nepotism started. The lack of external supervision and security measures, along with the lack of a standardised security system, allowed the departmental committees to become far more vulnerable to malpractice, unauthorised control of test sheets by syndicates, and unauthorised control of the committees.
The BBS has released the latest data on institutional unemployment, which shows that over 2.6 million people were unemployed in Bangladesh through institutional means. There is constant uncertainty among the unemployed. The additional problems further frustrate the jobless as a result of question leakage, corruption, and nepotism in recruitment exams instead of transparency. If merit is undermined, good people lose faith in government and distrust of government leads to brain drain and chaos.
It is necessary to probe the issue of how the question paper of the Assistant Upazila Youth Development Officer was leaked. According to experts, it was expected that a number of candidates would compete for this exam. But rather than an administrative investigation, criminal cases should be filed to name the guilty to find out the culprit. If necessary, the Anti-Corruption Commission should be included in the investigation. Those responsible for this crime must not only be reprimanded but punished in exemplary fashion.
Uncontrolled disclosure of examination questions is a serious crime under the existing law. The Public Examinations (Offences) Act, 1980, Section 4, provides for rigorous imprisonment of up to ten years for those who possess, disclose, publish or distribute any question paper before an examination, in addition to monetary penalties. Furthermore, crimes against public servants are also punishable under the Penal Code, 1860 and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947, which sanction crimes of corruption and abuse of official power. In addition, digital dissemination of leaked information is covered by Sections 22 and 33 of the Cyber Security Act, including serious custodial penalties for unauthorised data collection and system manipulation. The culprits should be brought to the law, and exemplary punishment should be meted out for the leak of the youth development question paper. In many past instances, such job exam question papers have been leaked, but nobody has yet received justice. The investigations carried out by the department frequently result only in quiet suspensions or transfers, without complete prosecution, and the main criminal gangs remain undamaged to launch the next recruitment campaign.
The effects of this leak were far-reaching, beyond any one person’s disappointment, and sparked a public outcry and paralysis of the city. Angered candidates marched out on the streets of different main arterial roads of Dhaka, covering hundreds of kilometres from various rural areas. The burning of their admit cards was an anti-government protest demanding immediate rescheduling, compensation for job seekers for the loss of travel expenses and the resignation of the negligent officials. This is a spontaneous resistance where the issue of institutional corruption is directly threatening public trust in governance and social order.
The entire system of the unlawful economy is the recruitment syndicate network, an illegal organisation at its core, which is the root of all these scandals. These rackets work in different government ministries and trick and exploit helpless job seekers by asking them thousands of taka for ‘leaked papers’ and ‘guaranteed answers’. These gangs of corrupt insiders inside government printing presses and digital brokers on encrypted social media channels can do virtually anything with impunity, eroding meritocracy and using inequality to target those who are worthy.
Apart from the social issue, question paper leaks have serious economic consequences for both the State exchequer and the families. In preparing hundreds of thousands of test papers, renting a dozen examination centres and mobilising law enforcement personnel, the national treasury is losing millions of taka, a mere mirage in the blink of an eye when an exam is cancelled. For candidates from poorer backgrounds, paying application fees, purchasing study materials, and paying for local transportation and accommodation are all personal costs that can be crippling and result in nothing more than frustration and increased debt.
Moreover, the long-term deterioration in the quality of public recruitment processes worsens the country’s serious brain drain problem. If they are educated but highly qualified and then find that to get into an institution they need to get the funds from the black market or the political connections, they lose their loyalty to the domestic workforce. Bangladesh loses its skilled human resources as top talent is increasingly opting to go abroad.
Bangladesh needs to go to the international standard to address this crisis. In developed administration systems, for example, the Civil Service Commission in the United Kingdom or the United States Office of Personnel Management, recruitment cycles are built around a central, well-secured on-screen evaluation platform. The questions are created using randomised algorithmic item banks, just before the exam, without any physical printing, transportation risks or human contact. Examinations are supervised in a secure and certified examination centre, with strict Biometric identification and electronic signal jamming.
Bangladesh can enhance its own recruitment mechanism by establishing an independent and unified National Testing Authority (NTA) along with the best practices globally. The use of computers for administering tests, the adoption of strict third-party audits, and the imposition of non-bailable criminal penalties for leaking the questions will permanently eradicate question-leaking and make public employment fair.
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author
The writer is an LLB Student at World University of Bangladesh
