Around 1.5m students across the country are set to sit for the SSC and equivalent examinations tomorrow amid fear of sudden violent attacks by the blockaders, as the BNP-led 20-party alliance has not yet lifted the indefinite blockade.
Students as well as the guardians express fear despite the government’s assurances of providing adequate security. The government is adamant not to reschedule the exam dates.
Uncertainty has gripped them mainly because of reports on the violent incidents centring the government-ouster movement. Many said they felt like hostages by the political parties. It has hampered their preparations too while the students say their results would not be what they expected.
Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Hoque yesterday promised full security for the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinees if the blockade continued.
Border Guard Bangladesh chief Maj Gen Aziz Ahmed said: “The BGB will arrange special patrol during the examinations to ensure safety of the examinees.”
Fatema Binte Mohsin will have to go to Motijheel Government Girls’ High School from Rampura to sit for the exams. She has to take a bus to reach Motijheel. Her father Sheikh Mohsin is now scared of attack on their way to the exam centre.
“We have learnt about the assurance of the state minister and the law enforcing agencies. But they can ensure safety only in and around the centres. How will they manage the street attacks?” he asked.
Demanding withdrawal of the blockade and hartals during the SSC examination, another guardian Rehana Begum said the government’s rescheduling the examination would also affect the students’ preparations.
She was not convinced by the pledges of the authorities. “This types of assurances come from them [government] always. But nothing keep the miscreants away from doing misdeeds.”
Our Habiganj correspondent reported that the guardians of around 17,000 examinees of the district were tensed about their children.
Alima Begum, an examinee from Shastipur Girls’ High School in Bahubal upazila, will have to travel 10 kilometres to attend the exam.
His father Mohim Uddin said: “Students will go to exam halls. But can they keep their minds tense-free from sudden attacks?”
Deputy Commissioner of Chapainawabganj Jahangir Kabir told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have taken every possible measures to ensure that the examinations are held properly.”
Sahabul Islam from Kansat area under Shibganj upazila, where many incidents of violence were reported in the last couple of days, thinks violence is obvious during blockade and hartals, our Chapainawabganj correspondent reports.
Similar reactions came from Chittagong, Sylhet, Tangail and Gaibandha districts as reported by our district correspondents.
Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid too urged the BNP-led alliance to withdraw the blockade and hartals considering sufferings of the SSC examinees.
Businessman Nasir Chowdhury, resident of Chittagong city’s Halishahar area, expressing his anxiety, said his elder daughter’s exam centre was about 10 kilometres off their house.
“I have a car but I cannot run it on the streets during hartal,” he said adding that the public transports or hired vehicles were low in number and targeted by the blockaders very often.
A candidate of PDB High School, Mohammad Rahi, fears that he might not reach the exam centre in time due to bad transportation during hartal hours. His mother Shahana Begum is more concerned about Rahi’s safety.
CMP Additional Commissioner (crime and operation) Banaz Kumar Majumder said they would deploy additional forces in every risky and important points of the city while special teams to patrol around the exam centres.
