Today’s SSC and equivalent examinations have been postponed to February 27 due to the extended hartal announced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance.
The rescheduled exams will begin at 9am and continue until 12 noon on the day. All other exams will be held as scheduled, said Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid at an emergency press conference yesterday at the Sylhet circuit house.
The exams that were scheduled for today are physics, history, Bangladesh’s history and world civilisations, finance and banking, and introduction to business.
On the matter of postponement of exams the education minister said: “The security of the lives of students is just as important as educational examinations. We cannot risk their lives in the prevailing situation. That is why we are having to postpone exams again and again.
“BNP-Jamaat is causing a lack of self-esteem among the new generation with continuous hartals and blockades. We will have to pay the price for this over next 50 years.”
“We requested them [the BNP alliance] to withhold their movement for two hours before and after the exams each day and let us carry out the exams without incident. Not only did they not allow that, one of their leaders asked what the point of exams was!”
Nahid added that: “Because of their movement, the whole education sector is in jeopardy. They are taking the country towards destruction. People have never before seen the cruelty the BNP alliance has shown with petrol bombs.”
The education minister said: “I still hope they will realise the inhumanity of their actions and not keep the students from getting a proper education.”