Govt may shut down Facebook during exams
In the wake of widespread allegations of question paper leaks in public examinations, the government has announced taking stronger measures to tackle the issue, including making Facebook inaccessible during the tests, if necessary.
Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid made the announcement at an inter-ministerial meeting with law enforcers regarding the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exams of 2015.
“Check the necessary laws; if needed, Facebook will be made inaccessible,” he told the officials present at the meeting.
The ministry yesterday formed a 25-member inter-ministerial committee to oversee the SSC examinations. The SSC examinations are expected to begin on February 2.
Public examinations were recently hit hard by allegations of question paper leaks. Parents have alleged that sample questions went viral on some Facebook pages before the examination day and they found that many sample questions were identical to the examination ones.
Even the government had to cancel the English second paper exam for the recent HSC examination due to leaks.
The education minister yesterday asked law enforcement agencies to make an all-out effort to arrest the people involved in the crime.
He said the process of printing question papers for the next SSC exam started at BG Press yesterday.
"We have brought BG Press under intelligence watch. Similar steps were taken to keep an eye on coaching centres and Xerox shops," Nahid said.
He said they brought some changes in the printing process of the question papers, but did not elaborate.
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