State minister spends night at Secretariat to prevent question paper leak

State Minister for Youth and Sports Aminul Haque is directly supervising the entire question paper management process, from preparing the papers to dispatching them to exam centres, to ensure the proper and neutral administration of the tests for recruiting assistant upazila youth development officers.

To this end, the state minister, along with high-ranking officials from the youth and sports ministry and the Department of Youth Development, was present at the Secretariat as of 1am Friday.

He has been staying at the Secretariat since Thursday morning and would remain there until at least 2pm on Friday afternoon, when the question papers would be sent to hundreds of exam centres in Mirpur area under police escort. The exams would begin an hour later and continue through the next hour.

While supervising the process, if he feels he needs some rest or sleep, he would take it at his office at the Secretariat, instead of leaving for his home, sources close to him have told reporters.

The sources also said that access for visitors to the state minister's office was restricted throughout Thursday.

The exam has been arranged for the second time for recruiting 242 assistant upazila youth development officers under the Department of Youth Development, with around 350,000 candidates expected to participate on Friday afternoon.

On 10 October, the exams were suspended a few hours before they were about to start over allegations of a question paper leak. Since then, stringent security measures have been taken to prevent a recurrence, officials have said.

A day ahead of the rescheduled tests, officials and employees involved in preparing and printing the question papers have been placed under close surveillance. Their mobile phones as well as various digital devices have been confiscated, and they have been required to remain in designated rooms until the stipulated time.

Members of law enforcement agencies have also taken positions in relevant offices and nearby rooms at the ministry.

Five arrested over question leak

On 10 October, allegations emerged that the question paper for a recruitment examination under the Department of Youth Development had been leaked. The Ministry of Youth and Sports suspended the examination soon after the allegations came to light. The ministry also formed an investigation committee to determine the cause of the incident and identify those responsible. Steps to take action against those involved are also underway.

In a new development in the investigation, the Special Response Battalion (SRB) arrested five people from different parts of the country on Thursday evening over their alleged involvement in the question paper leak. The arrests are said to mark progress in the investigation into the allegations.