HSC examinees withdraw edu minister's resignation demand, place fresh six-point charter
A six-member delegation entered the Secretariat for talks after police stopped the protesters at Shikkha Bhaban, where they submitted a revised set of demands, dropping their earlier call for the education minister's resignation.
Protesting Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinees today (15 July) withdrew their earlier demand for the resignation of the education minister and submitted a fresh six-point charter of demands over the conduct of HSC and equivalent examinations amid adverse weather conditions.
The development came after police stopped the protesters with barricades outside Shikkha Bhaban as they marched towards the Secretariat at around 4pm.
Following the blockade, a six-member student delegation was allowed to enter the Secretariat for discussions with government officials.
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After the delegation entered the Secretariat, the protesting students ended their programme and left the area in front of Shikkha Bhaban around 5:50pm, allowing traffic movement on the road between the Secretariat and Shikkha Bhaban to return to normal.
Additional Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Ramna Division Rabbani Hossain said the road was reopened after the students concluded their programme and left the area.
A student involved in the protest said the programme was suspended for the time being as HSC examinations are scheduled to be held tomorrow (16 July), but their six-point demands would remain unchanged.
During the meeting, the delegation submitted a revised list of demands that omitted the earlier call for the resignation of Education and Primary and Mass Education Minister ANM Ehsanul Hoque Milon.
Instead, the students demanded that candidates be allowed to opt for retake examinations if they were affected by adverse weather, with the higher score between the original and retake examinations counted as the final result.
They also called for full marks to be awarded for erroneous questions, adequate preparation time before any retake examinations, consideration of sudden changes in question patterns during evaluation, and more student-friendly examination centres.
The revised six-point charter was submitted during discussions with government officials at the Secretariat.
Earlier, Police set up barricades and stopped protesting Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinees in front of the Shikkha Bhaban in Dhaka as they attempted to march towards the Secretariat to press home their three-point demands.
The students reached the Shikkha Bhaban around 4pm via the Dhaka University area, where they were met with police barricades.
They subsequently staged a sit-in and chanted slogans demanding the resignation of Education and Primary and Mass Education Minister ANM Ehsanul Hoque Milon, among other demands.
Earlier, at around 3:10pm, the students began marching from the Science Laboratory area towards the Secretariat.
Traffic at the Science Lab intersection gradually returned to normal after they left the area.
On the ground, students were seen chanting slogans and displaying placards carrying their demands during the sit-in programme before setting off on the march.
Members of law enforcement agencies were deployed in and around the procession and remained on alert.
One student participating in the long march said they had come to press their demands peacefully and would continue their movement until those demands were met.
Another student said many examinees had suffered due to the decision to hold examinations amid adverse weather conditions and urged the authorities to address their demands promptly.
During the march, the protesters chanted slogans and carried placards calling for the postponement of the HSC examinations and the resignation of the education minister.
After the students vacated the roads, traffic movement gradually returned to normal at the Science Lab intersection and on Mirpur Road, Elephant Road and roads leading towards Shahbagh.
The blockade had caused severe traffic congestion in the area.
Long march from Uttara
As part of the same programme, another group of HSC examinees began a long march from Uttara towards the Secretariat this afternoon.
The protesters set off from the BNS Centre area in Uttara around 3:45pm after staging a road blockade in the area earlier in the day.
Students also held demonstrations and sit-in programmes at Mirpur-10 and ECB Chattar in support of the movement.
According to the protesters, many HSC and equivalent examination candidates have faced significant difficulties due to continuous rainfall, waterlogging and ongoing floods in several parts of the country.
Three-point demands
The protesting students have placed three key demands before the government: postponing HSC and equivalent examinations until the country's disaster situation returns to normal, arranging a retake examination for candidates who were unable to sit for the 13 July exam, and securing the resignation of the education minister.
Security tightened around Secretariat
The demonstrations disrupted traffic movement on several roads in the capital.
In response to the protest programme, security measures have been strengthened in and around the Secretariat. Members of law enforcement agencies remain deployed in the area and are maintaining a heightened state of alert.
