The system is failing our students

We have known about the problem of question paper leaks for quite some time, but it is a cause for alarm that we are still far from a workable solution. Our secondary school system has been notoriously obtuse in realizing its own deficiencies, and the problem of leaks has been there for years, but only recently has it become what can only be called an epidemic. Syndicates responsible for these leaks are escalating their operations, leaking the answer scripts along with the question papers. Educationists and academics all over the nation have agreed that this problem will have dire consequences for Bangladesh going forward. It is common sense: Education fosters skills, skills make people employable, and employment enriches the nation’s economy. By letting these leaks persist, the Education Ministry is impeding our country’s socio-economic momentum. A broken secondary education system will ultimately foster a lack of confidence in our own people -- something we are already seeing in motion with foreign nationals being given preference for top positions over locals in many places. It is all the more frustrating when an attitude prevails that the problem of leaks is something we will just have to live with; that nothing can be done. These leaks threaten to undermine all the progress that Bangladesh has made as a country, and stand to greatly impact our progress going forward -- the government must make it a priority to stop the leak. With so much progress having been made by the government in the fight against militancy, there is no excuse to sit idly while our education sector destroys itself.