Polls to elect first ever student cabinets at secondary level on Saturday

Students for the first time will elect their representatives of students' cabinets through elections to be held at over 1,000 secondary educational institutions across the country on Saturday.

Announcing the elections at a press briefing at his ministry yesterday, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said the government has introduced the system this year to help them practise democratic norms.

About 6.24 lakh students from class VI to X of 1,043 schools, madrasas and technical institutions will exercise their voting rights from 8:00am to 1:00pm simultaneously, he said.

About 15,840 students will vie for 8,344 seats of the cabinets in the election, he added.

The tenure of the first eight-member students' cabinet will be six months. From next year, the tenure of cabinets will be one year, and students will exercise their voting rights in January.

The minister said elections would seek development of tolerance to opposition views, leadership qualities and improvement of school environments.