HSC examinees leave education board gate hours after seizure

Several twelfth class students who are going to attend Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and equivalent examinations from August 17, are now demanding to hold all subjects out of 50 marks.   

They have backtracked from earlier focused demand of postponing the exams for two months and picked their other demand to be focused, two days after police foiled their protest that included four-point demands. 

Around 2:20pm, the students of different colleges of Dhaka withdrew their seizure which carried out locking the gate of Dhaka education board office at Bakshibazar area. 

They withdrew it after being assured from the board Chairman to hold their exams reducing 50% marks. A four-member delegation who went to submit a memorandum with the Chairman, demanded this.

Tapan Kumar, Chairman of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Dhaka assured the demonstrating students’ delegation team that he would talk to the high-ups. He urged the students to go home and study now, Tapan was quoted by the delegation team. 

The students issued two-day ultimatum, if their demand is not met, they will wage tougher protest from Sunday, as quoted into a live video of TheReport.Live. 

On August 7, the law enforcers detained at least six after dispersing the students who were staging demonstration blocking Shahbagh intersection and seven others on the following day who were protesting in front of Shahbagh police station.

All the detainees had been released after signing bonds, according to Shahbagh police station sources. 

Their 4-point demands included, HSC and equivalent exams starting from August 17 should be cancelled, the exam should not be conducted during the dengue outbreak should be delayed by at least 2 months, the full-marks allocation for each subject should be reduced to 50 instead of 100, examination for the subject ICT should be cancelled like previous year.

However, Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni on August 8 announced that the exams will not be deferred. Moreover, HSC examinations will be held on full marks in all subjects except ICT in the revised syllabus out of 75 marks.

Protesting students then said, if marks for a subject could be the reduced, then all the subjects can be taken in a revised syllabus.