A group of job aspirants staged a protest and rally demanding the cancellation of the government primary school assistant teacher recruitment examination, alleging question paper leaks and other irregularities. They also placed a five-point demand and announced that the movement would continue until their demands are met.
The protest began around 11:00am on Sunday (January 11) in front of the main gate of the Directorate of Primary Education (DPE) in Mirpur, Dhaka. Protesters continued their demonstration until noon, chanting slogans and demanding the cancellation of the exam over alleged irregularities, fraud, and question paper leaks.
Placards carried by the protesters bore slogans such as “No to question leaks” and “Stop question leaks, save education.”
The protesters demanded the immediate cancellation of the assistant teacher recruitment examination and the swift arrangement of a fresh test. They also called for all government job examinations to be held in Dhaka with device checkers and network jammers installed at every examination centre.
In addition, they demanded the formation of an independent committee to oversee all examinations and insisted that no multiple exams be conducted on the same day at the same time. They further demanded that institutions with previous records of question leaks be barred from setting question papers.
They also said that if question leaks are proven, all those involved must face the maximum punishment, and the head of the question-setting institution must voluntarily resign within 24 hours.
According to sources, the assistant teacher recruitment exam was held simultaneously in 61 districts across the country—excluding the three hill districts of the Chattogram Hill Tracts—on January 9 from 3:00pm to 4:30pm. More than 1.08 million candidates appeared in the exam.
Rumours of question paper leaks began circulating on social media several days before the examination, with some users allegedly sharing leaked questions on Facebook.
Candidates alleged that several questions in the exam matched those circulated on social media two days earlier, reinforcing claims of question leaks. They also claimed that question papers were sent to district-level authorities on December 25, nearly two weeks before the exam, allowing leak syndicates access to the papers.