Examinees for the position of Ground Service Assistant have raised allegations against the Biman Bangladesh Airlines recruitment test question paper preparation committee, accusing it of being involved in question leaks.
The exams were delayed by one hour in all ten centres, where approximately 33,000 candidates appeared for 100 Ground Service Assistant positions on September 1.
Examinees cited the announcement of the unprecedented one-hour delay just 15 minutes before the start of the exam as the reason for the question leak.
Speaking to Dhaka Tribune, several examinees also alleged that when it became known that several examinees had received the question papers before the exam, they came out of all the centres and started protesting, demanding the cancellation of the exam.
This Dhaka Tribune reporter visited at least three centres, including Badda Alatunnessa Higher Secondary School, Uttara High School and College (Sector-7), and Uttaran Girls High and College (Sector-6) to inquire into the allegations. Protests by examinees demanding a test postponement were noticed at all three centres.
In response to the demands, Biman's Director of Administration, Siddiqur Rahman, who was the head of the examination question preparation committee, announced the postponement of the test at Uttara High School and College.
The Additional Deputy Commissioner of DMP Uttara Division, Badrul Hasan, the Additional Deputy Commissioner of the Airport Zone, Tohidul Islam, and the Joint Secretary of the Civil Aviation Ministry (Biman and CA), Sayed Kutub, were present at the test centre.
ADC Badrul Hasan and ADC Tohidul Islam told Dhaka Tribune that they went to the centre to control the protests, and later, Biman officials announced the cancellation of the test.
Joint Secretary Sayed Kutub also confirmed their statement.
However, examinees at Uttara High School and College later learned that the recruitment test had been held at the rest of the centres.
Biman's Director of Administration, Siddiqur Rahman, refused to postpone the test when interviewed by Dhaka Tribune on Saturday.
When asked about the test postponement announcement, he stated that all decisions were made by Biman's Managing Director and CEO, Shafilul Azim.
However, Dhaka Tribune noted that Shafilul Azim was busy arranging a Dhaka-Narita promotional familiarisation trip at the Dhaka Airport and did not respond to inquiries regarding the allegations of question paper leakage and the delayed exam notice on Friday.
Biman's Director of Administration, Siddiqur Rahman, has been in charge as the MD and CEO of the airways for the past five days, as Shafilul Azim is in Japan.
Confusion about exam delay
Biman Director of Administration Siddiqur Rahman told Dhaka Tribune on Friday evening that the test was delayed because they could not provide questions at the scheduled time in all the centres due to rain.
He also blamed Uttara High School and College authorities for not holding the exam.
However, Faridduzaman, the principal of the college, said: "Regarding the delay of the test, we received an email from Kurmitola High School and College's Acting Principal, Abdul Khalek, at 3:39 pm that day. We don't know more than that."
Abdul Khalek, who has been managing Biman test centres for over 10 years, said that 15 minutes before the start of the test, Biman's Director of Administration called him and instructed him to inform everyone about the one-hour delay due to the ongoing printing of the question paper.
"Biman Human Resources DGM Samsuddoha Akhand arrived at our centre with a question paper at 3:15 pm," he added.
Dhaka Tribune obtained a copy of the phone text message Abdul Khalek sent to all test centre supervisors, where he said the test was to be delayed by an hour due to “inclement weather.”
Biman changed notice date multiple times
On the exam day, Biman uploaded a notice on their website.
Examinees alleged that the notice did not mention any date and was not signed by any responsible official.
When Dhaka Tribune visited Biman's website, they found evidence of the examinees' complaints in the copy of the notice uploaded on the exam day (September 1).
The notice said: "Due to unavoidable reasons, the written examination will be held at 4 pm instead of 3 pm."
On the exam day, when asked how the notice was uploaded while all members and officials of the exam committee were present at the test centre, Biman Director of Administration Siddiqur Rahman could not provide a clear explanation.
Two days later, Dhaka Tribune found that the uploaded date of the notice on September 1 had been changed to August 31.
Dhaka Tribune obtained an email copy of the notice sent to seven test centres by Biman Deputy Manager (Recruitment and Staffing Unit) Sadia Sattar on the exam day at 3:39 pm.
Regarding a query about publishing the notice, the Director of Administration first said he had directed Biman's GM IT, Anwar Hossain. However, Biman's IT department said GM IT Anwar Hossain was not present at Biman HQ on the exam day and had not received any official instructions regarding uploading the notice.
On Sunday, Siddiqur Rahman changed his statement and said he had directed another GM, but he did not clarify who that official was.
GM Admin Bushra Islam, who was part of the exam question paper committee, said that she had been directed by the Director of Administration to carry out tasks at Biman HQ and the test centre.
Bushra Islam had been added to the exam question paper committee just two days before the exam on August 28. The committee was originally formed on January 15.
However, Biman Bangladesh Airlines Director (Admin) Siddiqur Rahman defied the ministry's directive and included GM Muhammad Nizam Uddin Ahmed in the committee responsible for formulating questions. Notably, Nizam had been implicated in the question leak incident of October 21, 2022.
Later, when the government removed Nizam on June 14, the Biman director waited and added Bushra Islam to the committee two days before the exam.
This revelation came to light through an investigation conducted by Dhaka Tribune.
Candidates demand divisional inquiry and new exam date
Some of the examinees at Uttara High School and College demanded that a new date for the test be announced:
"After the protests continued until 5:30 pm, the question paper preparation committee cancelled the test,” one of the examinees said.
“This was a questionable test. If the test is not cancelled, and the Biman administration denies postponing the test, we will file a writ in court to demand the test's cancellation," another examinee added.
They also demanded that the government conduct a divisional inquiry, take legal action against those involved in the question leak, and set a new exam date. Previously, a number of tests were re-conducted after examinees filed writs in court.
