Student protesters block Shahbagh, demand education minister’s resignation

A group of protesting Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinees blocked Dhaka’s Shahbagh intersection this evening, demanding the resignation of Education Minister ANM Ehsanul Hoque Milon.

The blockade began around 6:00pm after the students left the Skikkha Bhaban, where they had staged a sit-in earlier in the day. The protest disrupted traffic movement in the area, causing severe congestion.

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The students said they had earlier placed a six-point demand, including reforms in the education system, but as their demands were not accepted, they have now moved to a one-point demand: the resignation of the education minister.

“We went to Shikkha Bhaban to implement our previously announced programme. We stayed there, but the administration did not cooperate with us and our demands were not accepted. Now we are at Shahbagh with a single demand: the education minister must resign,” Asraful Haq, a student of Birshreshtha Munshi Abdur Rouf Public College, told The Daily Star.

This was the second consecutive day of protests by HSC examinees. After sitting for their exams, students blocked roads in Uttara, Science Lab and Savar. Meanwhile, another group marched towards the education ministry as part of their previously announced “Long March to the Education Ministry” programme.

The group reached Shikkha Bhaban around 4:00pm, but police stopped them by setting up barricades.

The protests began yesterday after HSC candidates faced difficulties while attending exams amid heavy rain and waterlogging on July 13. The unrest intensified after allegations surfaced that two questions in the Physics First Paper contained errors and that examinees were compared to “farm chickens”.

Later, Education Minister ANM Ehsanul Hoque Milon apologised for the incident in the parliament and assured that students would receive full marks for the two erroneous questions.

Today, he announced that candidates who could not attend exams due to adverse weather conditions or other unavoidable reasons would be allowed to retake the exams.