The recruitment examination for the post of Assistant Upazila Youth Development Officer under the Department of Youth Development was postponed shortly before it was due to begin on Saturday following allegations of a question paper leak.
The examination was scheduled to begin at 11am, but the postponement was announced after candidates had received their optical mark recognition (OMR) sheets. The decision triggered protests and road blockades at several locations across the capital as jobseekers took to the streets.
The Department of Youth Development rescheduled the examination for October 16 at 3pm, according to a press release issued on Saturday evening. Candidates will be informed of further examination-related details through short message service (SMS) notifications.
The Assistant Upazila Youth Development Officer post is an 11th-grade government position. A total of 319,000 candidates were scheduled to compete for 242 posts, with the examination set to take place at 95 centers across the capital.
Allegations of a question paper leak began circulating on social media the night before the examination. As discussions over the allegations intensified on Saturday morning, the authorities decided to postpone the test shortly before it was due to begin.
DM Atikur Rahman, director (administration) of the Department of Youth Development, said the decision was taken after he saw a social media post alleging that the question paper had been leaked. He also said there were partial similarities between the questions circulating on social media and the original question paper.
However, it remains unclear how the question paper was leaked, who was involved and what action will be taken over the incident.
Following the announcement, jobseekers staged demonstrations at several locations across the capital, including Manik Mia Avenue, Satmasjid Road, Shahbagh, Nilkhet, Mirpur and Motijheel. Road blockades disrupted traffic in several areas.
A group of candidates also staged a sit-in outside the department's headquarters.
Candidates said many had traveled to Dhaka from different districts the previous day or early on Saturday morning, spending considerable amounts on transportation, accommodation and food. They said the last-minute postponement caused financial losses and emotional distress.
One candidate told the media that OMR sheets were distributed at the scheduled time. About 2 minutes later, officials responsible for the examination arrived and announced that the test had been postponed due to unavoidable circumstances, leaving candidates stunned.
Candidates said allegations of a question paper leak had been circulating on social media since the previous night. They argued that if the allegations had been verified and necessary measures taken earlier, they would not have had to endure such inconvenience.
In protest against the postponement, jobseekers announced a 5-point set of demands.
They called for those involved in the alleged question paper leak to be identified, permanently barred from future recruitment examinations and given exemplary punishment. They also demanded appropriate compensation for affected candidates and stronger security measures to prevent future question paper leaks.
The candidates further demanded that at least 4 sets of question papers be prepared for examinations, that an independent institution such as Dhaka University or Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) be tasked with preparing the questions, and that candidates be notified at least 10 days in advance if an examination is postponed.
The protesters warned of tougher demonstrations, including demanding the resignation of the department's director general, if their demands were not met within the next 24 hours.
They said an impartial investigation must be conducted to identify those responsible for the alleged leak. The authorities must also decide how to address the financial losses suffered by candidates because of the last-minute postponement, they added.
