Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - All remaining Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and equivalent examinations were cancelled today, in response to intense student protests.
The Bangladesh government announced the decision that the remaining HSC exams, which were scheduled to resume on September 11, have now been officially scrapped.
The announcement was made today by Professor Tapan Kumar Sarkar, the head of the Inter-Education Board Coordination Committee, during a press briefing at the secretariat.
He confirmed that the method for releasing the HSC results would be determined at a later date.
The decision comes after students staged protests demanding the cancellation of the remaining exams and the release of results through subject mapping.
Earlier, the government had proposed holding the postponed exams with reduced marks and fewer questions.
However, facing growing pressure from the student body, the authorities opted to cancel the exams altogether.
Protests escalated when several hundred students breached security at the secretariat, breaking through police barriers and staging a sit-in protest.
The students, chanting slogans, insisted that the results of the exams that had already been conducted be published, and that the marks for the remaining subjects be calculated based on their Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exam results.
The HSC exams, which began on June 30, had already been postponed several times due to the unrest linked to the recent quota reform movement and anti-government protests.
Initially postponed indefinitely in July, the exams were rescheduled multiple times, only to face further delays.
A source within the education board revealed that following the resignation and departure of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, exam materials were damaged during attacks on police stations across the country, leading to further disruptions.
The students argue that the ongoing turmoil has severely affected their preparation and that they are not in a position to sit for the remaining exams.
"We will prove our merit in the university entrance exams," one of the protesting students declared.
The government is now tasked with deciding how the final HSC results will be calculated and released, a decision eagerly awaited by thousands of students across the country.
BBN/AN/TA