What a poor game the BNP has been playing. While the ruling party gets closer and closer to achieving its dream of a single-party government, the BNP is content to cheerfully take the rope it is being offered so that it can hang itself.
The latest in the long line of dishonorable moves committed by the party is its refusal to budge even for the sake of the children, specifically their education. Because of the sudden 72-hour hartal called by the BNP, which was later extended by another 36 hours, the SSC examination start date had to be pushed back twice, before finally kicking off on Friday.
If these students go to the exam hall and don’t perform their best, can you really blame them? Doing well in an exam is as much about being ready on that particular day as it is about learning the syllabus material. It is possible to ace a test one day, and not do so well another day, depending on how you feel.
How do the kids feel about all this? Can they be expected to wake up bright and early on exam day, brimming with optimism about their future? It’s hard to think of one good reason why they should put any faith in their education system, when all they get in return for their months of preparation is having it all yanked out from underneath their feet. Our two parties just can’t do politics without stepping on a few million dreams.
The education minister had made an appeal not to enforce a hartal during the SSC exams. The BNP’s response was a threat to enforce an even tougher hartal from Sunday onwards. The message from the party is loud and clear: We couldn’t care less about the wellbeing of children and whether or not they get to earn those silly certificates. The hartals must go on as long as they have to.
Here’s a different sort of idea for the BNP: Why not, for a while, just pretend to care about the future of young people? Let them go take their exams in peace – whether SSC, HSC, O levels, A levels, whatever. Declare to the public that you don’t want children to be harmed; not by having their schooling disrupted, and certainly not by having bombs hurled at them.
And then, refrain from causing any trouble on those days. Let there be peace and quiet in the streets so that kids can go take their exams on the day they had marked on their calendar many months ago. Khaleda has severe beef with the Awami League, and wants a fresh election under a non-partisan government – fair enough. She could have gained some favour for her party by letting her countrymen know that in spite of these grievances, the BNP is at least principled enough to not cause damage to the tenderest of minds.
Many candidates for O and A level exams in Dhaka and Khulna had their exams cancelled because of the state of things. The British Council simply did not feel they could go ahead with it. These students will have to wait till the next session, which is either six months or a year away.
Even then, there’s no guarantee that the political situation will stabilise. This is more than enough time for the students to forget everything they have studied, and lose all motivation to continue trying to do better.
Going to school shouldn’t have to be like this. We shouldn’t need police, RAB, and BGB deployed all over to ensure that national exams can indeed take place and that students are not attacked. But still, it’s better than nothing, and the fact that the exams did kick off – whether they will finish on schedule is too soon to tell – is a positive note in an overwhelmingly dreary state of affairs. This is a stressful time, not just for exam candidates, but also for the parents and guardians who feel that their children deserved a better deal.
Sadly, it does not seem likely that either party chief will come around to caring about school-children. Their selfish brand of politics makes them unable to see beyond their own wants, and neither of them happens to be young. Sheikh Hasina is 67 years old, and Khaleda Zia is 69 (her date of birth varies depending on who you ask). It has been a long time since either of them went to school.
As for Khaleda, it has been a very long time since she learnt anything, and it is doubtful whether she will learn anything ever again.
