SSC exams deferred, once more

The fresh spell of 72-hour hartal from 6:00am today has forced the government to defer more SSC and equivalent public exams slated for today and Tuesday.

The exams scheduled for today will be held on February 28 (Saturday) and those for Tuesday on March 6 (Friday).

The February 28 exams will be held from 10:00am to 1:00pm and the March 6 exams from 9:00am to 12noon.

"We have rescheduled the examinations considering the safety of the examinees," Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said while announcing the new schedule at a briefing at his Hare Road residence in Dhaka yesterday.

Meanwhile, the 35th BCS preliminary examination time has been changed from 9:30am to 3:00pm on March 6, according to the Public Service Commission.

The education ministry said it is very unfortunate that the BNP and its allies have rejected the education ministry's plea to refrain from enforcing hartals on exam days, ignoring the suffering of around 15 lakh examinees, their teachers and families.

On top of the indefinite blockade since January 6, the alliance has been enforcing hartals since February 1, excluding Fridays and Saturdays, forcing the education ministry to reschedule exams every week. 

The students could take only five exams in the last 18 days, all on the weekends. Earlier, the education ministry had to defer the exams on February 2, 4, 8 and 10 to February 6, 7, 13, and 14 respectively.

"All other exams will be held as per schedule, and we have made preparations accordingly," Nahid said.

Apart from the SSC and its equivalent exams, the country's overall education, business, manufacturing industries, agriculture, transport -- all sectors have been hugely affected by the hartals and the blockade.

Blockade and hartal violence has already claimed the lives of 74 people. Some 300 victims of petrol bombs have suffered burns so far.

Meanwhile, at least eight people were injured in petrol and crude bomb attacks in different parts of the country yesterday.

Three Eden college students were injured as criminals hurled four homemade bombs in front of the college around 8:30pm.

Shahidul Islam Shaheed, joint convenor of Ramna ward-20 unit of Awami League, was injured in a crude bomb explosion in the city's Bangabazar area around 8:00pm.

Rickshaw puller Babul Ahmed was injured in a homemade bomb explosion near the National Press Club about 9:30pm. Two people were burnt in bomb explosion at Modhubagh in Maghbazar around 10:30pm.

All the victims are receiving treatment at the DMCH.

Criminals set fire to two trucks, one in Joypurhat and the other in Natore, last night.

Though movement of people in the capital seemed normal yesterday, passengers' movement between Dhaka and other districts saw a drastic fall.

GM Siraj, owner of SR Paribahan, said only about 10 percent of his buses are plying the inter-district roads.

"Many of the owners are failing to pay bank instalments while workers are going through hardship," he told The Daily Star.

Number of tourists visiting spots like the Cox's Bazar has dropped sharply, he said, sharing his recent experience.

"Cox's Bazar remains vibrant, full of tourists during this season but the beach looks almost deserted now," Siraj said.

Zinnur Ahmed Chowdhury Dipu, secretary general of Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh, said fewer numbers of foreigners are coming to Bangladesh these days while Bangladeshi passengers flying to India or Southeastern and East Asian countries have also come down.

Meanwhile, Kabir Hossain Jewel, 22, a student of Dinajpur Degree College was burnt as activists of Jamaat-Shibir hurled a petrol bomb at a bus of Gazipura Paribahan in Signboard area in Gazipur.

With deep burns on his face and right arm, he was admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital last night.

"I was sitting just beside the driver's seat. The window was closed, but as someone from a Jamaat-Shibir rally hurled a bomb, it broke the window glass and hit me. I got burnt while getting out of the bus," he told The Daily Star at the DMCH burn unit.