Hundreds of Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) candidates stormed the secretariat demanding an automatic pass and the immediate publication of their results without the need for further examinations.
The students, who had been gathering in front of the Ministry of Education at the Secretariat since the morning, entered the premises around midday to press their demands on Tuesday (20 August).
According to reports, the HSC candidates, frustrated by the repeated postponement of their exams due to the ongoing quota reform movement, initially gathered at the eastern gate of the Secretariat, chanting slogans.
The movement for quota reform has caused significant disruptions, leading to the suspension of multiple exams. The students' demand centres around publishing the HSC results through subject mapping, bypassing the need for any further examinations.
As the situation escalated, the law enforcement personnel stationed at the gate stood aside, allowing the students to enter the secretariat.
In a related development, it has been revealed that the remaining HSC and equivalent exams will now be conducted on half of the usual questions.
Additionally, the exams, originally rescheduled for 11 September, will be postponed by a further two weeks. This decision was reached during a meeting chaired by Professor Wahiduddin Mahmud, the Education Advisor to the caretaker government.
Professor Tapan Kumar Sarker, chairman of the Dhaka Education Board, confirmed this information to the media.
The ongoing unrest linked to the quota reform movement has caused multiple delays in the HSC and equivalent exams. The exams were initially suspended on 18 July, followed by further suspensions on 21, 23, and 25 July, and then again from 28 July to 1 August.
Although it was initially decided that the exams would resume on 11 August, it was later announced that they would not take place on that date either.
