Son gets A+ thanks to his secretary father despite barely passing
Graphics: Agamir Somoy
The father was the secretary of the Chittagong Education Board. His son was an HSC examinee. Before the results were published, the father saw that his son had barely passed. But that would damage the secretary father’s “reputation.” To protect his reputation, he resorted to unprecedented fraud. He increased marks in 14 answer scripts, including both written and multiple-choice sections, by a minimum of 2 marks and a maximum of 24 marks. As a result, his son secured an “A+.”
However, after the results were published, the secretary’s “clumsy” fraud was exposed. He lost his job. A case was filed against him. He was sent to jail. The result was also canceled. After completing the investigation, Sub Inspector (SI) S M Safiul Azam Munsi of Panchlaish Police Station in the city submitted the charge sheet to the court on August 18. Four people including the father and son have been accused in the case.
The accused are former Chittagong Education Board Secretary Narayan Chandra Nath, former System Analyst Kibria Masud Khan, former Chairman Mustafa Kamrul Akhtar and Narayan’s son Nakshatra Debnath who was an HSC examinee in 2023. The investigating officer SI told Agamir Somoy, “The charge sheet has been submitted to the court naming four people as accused and 11 people as witnesses. The court will examine the charge sheet and issue an order on the scheduled date.”
SI Safiul Azam said charges have been brought against each accused under several sections of the Penal Code in addition to the Public Examinations (Offences) Act.
According to the charge sheet, a review of the seized answer scripts and mark sheets and the investigation found evidence that Narayan Chandra Nath was involved in altering Nakshatra Debnath’s results by abusing his authority with the assistance of System Analyst Kibria Masud Khan. In exchange for assisting in the fraud, Kibria, who was on post-retirement leave, was assigned the task of preparing the 2024 results for a daily allowance of Tk 2,000.
According to information in the charge sheet, Nakshatra Debnath had scored 31 marks in the written section of Bangla First Paper. This was increased to 41. Two marks were added to the 24 marks he had received in the multiple-choice section.
In English First Paper, he scored 70 marks in the written section. This was increased to 90. In the second paper, 24 marks were added to his 57 marks and he was shown as having scored 81.
In the written section of Physics First Paper, another 8 marks were added to his 34 marks. In the multiple-choice section of Physics Second Paper, his 20 marks were increased by 2 to 22.
Nakshatra scored 30 marks in the written section of Chemistry First Paper. This was increased to 40. Three marks were added to his multiple-choice score and he was shown as having scored 23. In the multiple-choice section of Chemistry Second Paper, 4 marks were added and his score was shown as 23. He had actually scored 19.
Ten marks were added to his written score in Biology First Paper, making it 39.
Narayan Chandra Nath served at the Chittagong Education Board for nearly five years from 2019, successively serving as Controller of Examinations, Secretary and Acting Chairman.
His son Nakshatra Debnath was a student of Chittagong Cantonment Public School and College and an HSC examinee in 2022. The examination was held in 2023 after the coronavirus pandemic. The results were published on November 26 that year.
After allegations of fraud were raised against Narayan Chandra Nath following the publication of the results, someone applied to the Education Board for re scrutiny of his son’s results. However, Narayan’s wife Banshree Debnath filed a general diary at Panchlaish Police Station in the city against the re scrutiny application. This further strengthened the suspicion.
In June 2024, the Ministry of Education formed a committee to investigate the allegations of fraud. On July 9, Narayan was removed from the Education Board and appointed Director of the Chittagong regional office of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE). On September 23, he was made Officer on Special Duty (OSD) over the fraud allegations.
Nakshatra’s result was canceled. On January 21, 2025, the then Secretary of the Chittagong Education Board Professor Dr. A K M Shamsu Uddin Azad filed a case against the four accused at Panchlaish Police Station in the city.
After surrendering before the court on June 17, Narayan was sent to jail. He is currently out on bail.
