The High Court has allowed three colleges in Dhaka to hold admission tests in order to admit students in Class XI for the academic year 2015-16.
Responding to a writ petition, the court yesterday stayed a government decision for Notre Dame College, Holy Cross College and St Joseph College for six months that asked the college authorities to admit students on the basis of their SSC results.
The court issued a ruling upon the government to explain in four weeks why its decision regarding the admission process should not be declared illegal.
The High Court bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Md Iqbal Kabir issued the order and the ruling, following the writ petition jointly filed by the principals of the three colleges on Sunday challenging the legality of the Education Ministry’s decision.
Their counsel Barrister Tamim Hossain Shawon said the Education Ministry issued a circular on June 1 that said students would be admitted to colleges for their HSC course following a merit list, which would be prepared by the government based on the students’ SSC results this year.
The petitioners challenged six sections of the ministry’s circular regarding the admission of the 2015-2016 education year. Tamim said the sections are not clear and will harm the students’ academic progress.
One of the section states that the circular will be applicable for all government and non-government colleges around the country. Another section says if any college violates the guideline, the non-government colleges will be out-listed from the MPO and will lose authority of running the HSC programme, and actions will be taken according to the Government College Guideline against the government colleges it they do not follow the guideline.
Deputy Attorney General Kazi Zinat Haque said they would decide on going to the Supreme Court against the High Court order after consulting with the attorney general.
