HSC 2023: Rigged result of son of former Chattogram board secretary finally cancelled

After a series of dramas, the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) 2023 exam result of the son of Prof Narayan Chandra Nath, former secretary of the Intermediate and Secondary Education Board, Chattogram, has been officially cancelled.

Board chairman Prof. Rezaul Karim announced the decision at a press conference at his office in the port city on Thursday evening (October 25) after the board’s disciplinary committee confirmed allegations of earnings fraud against Narayan in a meeting.

Narayan’s son Nakshatra Chandra Nath, a student of Chittagong Cantonment School and College, had controversially secured a GPA 5 in last year’s HSC exams despite failing the prelim test.

The result sparked widespread investigations and allegations of manipulation, particularly since Narayan held the position of audit controller on the board at the time.

After the fraud was uncovered, Narayan was transferred from his post in the education department to the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE), Chattogram Zone, as its director on July 9, 2024, rather than face an internal departmental lawsuit.

However, a DSHE investigation was launched shortly afterwards, ordered by the Ministry of Education on the orders of a Cabinet department, the results of which were presented on 4 August. In it, Narayan was found guilty of rigging his son’s HSC exam results.

On September 15, a month after the fall of the Awami League government, the ministry, in a directive addressed to the DSHE director general, highlighted the need for disciplinary action against Narayan under the Government Servants (Disciplinary and Appeal) Rules, 2018.

It also directed the chairman of the Chattogram Board of Education to file a criminal complaint against the senior education official and all persons involved in the fraudulent activity through which Narayan ensured his son got a GPA 5, according to DSHE findings.

On September 23, Narayan was appointed as an Officer on Special Duty (OSD).

The controversy over the exam results began when an unknown person requested online to verify Narayan’s son’s HSC result released on November 26 last year. His wife Banashree Das even submitted a general diary to the police and rejected any request to verify her son’s findings.

It was also alleged that an appeal was made to the Chattogram board chairman to ignore the review petition, a claim which was later refuted by the then chairman Prof Mustafa Kamrul Akhtar.

The drama escalated in January this year when two former secretaries of the Chattogram Education Board, Prof. Abdul Alim and Prof. Idris Ali, were booked under the Cyber ​​Security Act for speaking publicly about the incident. This case is still being investigated by the police.

Despite the Ministry’s instructions, there were several delays in investigating the matter. An inquiry committee finally summoned Prof. Narayan in May, but he applied to the Supreme Court for a stay. The case remained unsolved until the court dismissed his request and reopened the investigation.