The National Parliament on Tuesday passed the Public Examinations (Offences) (Amendment) Act, 2026, introducing a maximum penalty of two years' imprisonment, a fine, or both for examiners found guilty of intentionally awarding inflated or reduced marks in public examinations.
The bill was passed by voice vote on the 20th sitting of the second session of the 13th National Parliament after being tabled by Education Minister Dr ANM Ehsanul Haque Milon.
The parliamentary sitting was presided over by Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed Bir Bikram.
Under the amended law, an examiner who deliberately awards excessive or reduced marks on a public examination answer script may face a maximum of two years' imprisonment, a fine, or both. However, such action can only be taken after a third examiner confirms the discrepancy in the awarded marks.
The amendment updates the Public Examinations (Offences) Act, 1980, bringing it in line with current needs and challenges.
The new law also introduces tougher penalties for digital examination-related offences. Unauthorized access to examination databases, hacking, data manipulation, or tampering with examination records will now be punishable by up to five years' imprisonment, a fine, or both.
In addition, the legislation provides stricter penalties for organized examination fraud, aiding and abetting examination-related offences, and other forms of digital manipulation.
