Cancel recruitment tests

Candidates of eight government banks and financial institutions yesterday demanded that the authorities concerned cancel the Friday's “controversial” recruitment tests and take fresh exams.

Complaining about mismanagement and corruption during the tests, they called upon the authorities to hold new tests under the Bangladesh Public Service Commission to make it fair.

They also gave the authorities concerned an ultimatum of 24 hours. If their demands were not met within the deadline, they threatened to take the issue to the court.

However, Bankers' Selection Committee, one of the authorities, denied the demands saying that the test was “a trial” of the final recruitment exam, which will be held soon in a written format.

The candidates made the demands at a protest rally organised under the banner of “General Students” in front of Jatiya Press Club in the capital.

The state-run banks include Sonali, Rupali and Janata.

About the irregularities, the candidates said there were no seat plans and most of the centres had shortage of seats. Besides, many examinees used mobile phones to solve the questions, and the exam started late in many centres, they said.

Saurav Sarkar Moon, one of the candidates, said mismanagement and irregularity took place in almost every exam centres.

“Even in my centre, I had to a squeeze in a bench with four persons. Exams for the post of senior officers at the state-run banks cannot take place this way,” said Saurav, who took the exam at Segun Bagicha High School centre.

“All we want now is cancellation of the exam. If the authorities don't listen to us, we'll have no other option but to seek the High Court's help,” he told The Daily Star.

It is a matter of shame that the candidates had to protest on the streets for a job and for bringing fairness to the recruitment exam, he added.

On Friday, the Bankers' Selection Committee announced to retake the recruitment tests on January 20 following demonstration of the candidates of two exam centres over seat shortage and mismanagement.

According to the committee, more than 5,000 candidates of the two centres -- Government Bangla College in Mirpur-1 and Hazrat Shah Ali Mohila College in the same area -- could not take the test scheduled to be held at 3:30pm.

A number of candidates of the centres as well as others complained of mismanagement and irregularities, like no seat plans, shortage of seats, use of mobile phones, starting the exam late and question paper leak.

Sajjad Khan, a candidate in one of the two centres, said some of the exam halls were crammed with candidates. “Many examinees took cell phones inside the halls. It was total chaos.”  Another candidate, Saddam Hossain, said the authorities should retake the entire exam instead of rescheduling it for the candidates of the two centres.

Earlier, the demonstrators gathered in front of the Bangladesh Bank around 10:00am to organise the rally, but they left the place following police action.

Later, they formed a human chain and demonstrated in front of the press club. Afterwards, they brought out a procession in the Dhaka University area and continued the demonstration till 1:00pm.

The candidates will also stage a sit-in protest at Shahbagh around 10:00am today.

The recruitment test for the posts of senior officer, officer and cash officer was held at 61 designated exam centres in Dhaka to fill over 1,663 vacancies at the banks.

Contacted, Mosharraf Hossain Khan, member secretary of the selection committee, said the demands made by the protestors were irrational.

“What is the necessity of retaking the entire examination? It was a trial of the final written exam. Of the two lakh candidates, about 17,000 will be selected through the MCQ test for the final exam,” he said.

They [the protestors] want to file a case to halt the recruitment process, he alleged.