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A lecturer assigned to evaluate Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examination answer scripts was caught marking papers at a roadside tea stall late on Saturday night, prompting the Sylhet Education Board to seize 400 answer scripts and initiate departmental action against him.
The incident took place at around 11:30 pm at a tea stall near the main gate of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) in Sylhet.
The examiner was identified as Iqbal Hossain (Sohan), a lecturer at Metrocity Women’s College and an appointed examiner under the Sylhet Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board.
According to the board, officials raided the tea stall after receiving information that answer scripts were being evaluated there. They found Iqbal marking HSC examination papers and recovered around 400 answer scripts from the spot.
Sylhet Education Board Controller of Examinations Professor Bilkis Yasmin confirmed the incident.
“We received information and went to the tea stall at night, where we caught the examiner while he was evaluating answer scripts. We seized 400 scripts from the spot. He is now in our custody, and departmental action will be taken against him,” she said.
Witnesses alleged that Iqbal was accompanied by several friends while marking the answer scripts. They claimed two others, including Irene Linza, a former vice-president of the now-banned Bangladesh Chhatra League’s SUST unit, were also handling the scripts. They further alleged that the group had carried out similar activities at the same tea stall on the previous night.
Tea stall owner Fazlul Haque said the group regularly visited his shop for tea and informal gatherings.
“I was closing the shop while they were checking papers inside. Officials from the education board arrived, spoke to them, and later everyone left. They had also come the previous night,” he told reporters.
Iqbal could not be reached for comment despite repeated attempts to contact him by phone.
Responding to the allegations, Irene Linza denied any involvement in evaluating the answer scripts.
“No answer scripts were seized from me. I have nothing to do with this. I am a former SUST student. The teacher brought the scripts. I was only there because he is my friend and batchmate,” she said.
Following the incident, education board officials took Iqbal into their custody but did not hand him over to the police.
Officer-in-Charge of Jalalabad Police Station, Shamsul Habib, said board officials briefly brought the teacher to the police station and filed a general diary (GD) before taking him back into their custody.
The Sylhet Education Board said it would conduct a departmental inquiry into the incident, as examination answer scripts are required to be evaluated under prescribed guidelines to ensure confidentiality, impartiality and the integrity of the public examination process.