Bangladesh students demand minister quit over flood-hit exams
- Hundreds of students blocked Dhaka intersections, protesting the education minister's refusal to cancel flood-affected exams
Students in Bangladesh are protesting, demanding the education minister's resignation over his handling of flood-disrupted national exams and dismissive comments, snarling traffic in Dhaka.
- Student demands for the education minister's resignation.
- Nationwide school-leaving exams disrupted by severe flooding.
- Education minister's dismissive remarks to protesting students.
DHAKA: Several hundred students blocked major intersections in Bangladesh’s capital on Wednesday, demanding the resignation of the education minister over his handling of nationwide school-leaving examinations disrupted by floods.
Protests that grew from an online campaign spilled onto Dhaka’s streets on Tuesday and continued into Wednesday, snarling traffic in parts of the city.
The demonstrations were sparked by the education ministry’s refusal to cancel one paper of the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examination despite torrential rain flooding examination centres and forcing some candidates to travel by boat to reach test venues.
“We will continue our protests until the minister resigns,” Faisal Khan, an HSC candidate, told AFP.
“Ignoring our request, he mocked us by saying we are broiler chickens that catch cold easily. We want to show him what broiler chickens can do,” Khan said.
He also drew a comparison with student-led protests in 2024 that helped topple former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
“A group of people had to flee the country after making derogatory remarks about students,” said protester Khan, alluding to weeks of mass demonstrations that culminated with Hasina being ousted.
A student who declined to be named for fear of reprisals said the education minister, Ehsanul Hoque Milon, was out of touch with students’ concerns.
“He keeps saying he wants to stop cheating in examinations and ignores almost every other issue,” she told AFP.
“We don’t cheat. Instead, he should focus on bringing children who have dropped out of school back into the education system.”
Milon had rejected calls to cancel the HSC examination but said students who were unable to sit the test because of flooding would be given another opportunity.
Examinations under the Chattogram Education Board had already been postponed because of flash floods and heavy rain, he said, adding that candidates in Dhaka and several other districts had also missed papers because of severe weather.
“Considering the importance of their academic careers, the government has decided to make special arrangements for them,” the minister said.
The annual HSC examinations – equivalent to British A-levels – are taken by hundreds of thousands of students across Bangladesh and are a key requirement for admission to universities.
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