Police stop HSC examinees’ march to Secretariat at Shikkha Bhaban

Police today (15 July) 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 4:00pm 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 Haque Milon, among other demands.

Earlier, around 3:00pm, the students briefly blocked the Science Laboratory intersection before beginning their long march towards the Secretariat.

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.