HSC candidates block Dhaka roads demanding education minister’s resignation

Collected Photo

Students have been staging demonstrations, blocking major roads in several parts of the capital, demanding the resignation of Education Minister ANM Ehsanul Haque Milon protesting holding the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinations amid heavy rainfall.

The protests were triggered by concerns over the HSC examination schedule, alleged errors in the Physics First Paper question and the difficulties faced by candidates due to recent heavy rainfall and widespread waterlogging.

The demonstrators gathered in front of the BNS Center in Uttara and at Science Lab, where they organized rallies and human chains while chanting slogans such as, ”No politics in education” and ”We demand the Education Minister’s resignation.”

The road blockades disrupted traffic in the affected areas.

The protesting students argued that examinations were being conducted without adequate consideration of the hardships faced by candidates. They said many students had to travel through flooded streets and muddy roads to reach examination centers, while some reportedly used boats to attend their exams due to severe waterlogging in parts of the country.

According to the protesters, they had previously urged the authorities to postpone the examinations until flood conditions, waterlogging and adverse weather had improved. They alleged that these appeals were ignored despite the challenging circumstances.

Students also raised concerns over the Physics First Paper examination, alleging that Questions 6 and 7 contained errors and questioning the overall standard of the paper. They clarified that their objection was not to the difficulty of the examination itself, but to what they described as an unfair assessment that did not reflect the conditions under which students had prepared.

The demonstrators said they were pressing an eight-point demands, including the resignation of the Education Minister after accepting responsibility for alleged shortcomings in the examination process, a public apology to teachers and students, an end to what they described as unnecessary ‘experimentation’ with public examinations, supension of HSC examinations until weather conditions.