DHAKA — A legal notice has been sent to senior government officials seeking to halt the release of primary scholarship exam results, citing a discriminatory 80:20 quota between government and private school students.
The notice was sent to the secretary of the Primary and Mass Education Ministry, the secretary of the Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Ministry and the director general of the Directorate of Primary Education.
Supreme Court lawyers Barrister Mohammad Humayun Kabir Pallob and Barrister Mohammad Kawsar sent the notice in the public interest on behalf of the human rights organization Law and Life Foundation Trust on Thursday, April 23.
The notice requested the cancellation of discriminatory clauses between government and private school students under the Primary Scholarship Exam Policy, 2026, and asked the government to ensure equal merit-based opportunity for all participating students.
The notice said the Primary and Mass Education Ministry’s Primary Scholarship Exam Policy 2026 set a new framework for evaluating the merit of primary-level students. Under that framework, 80 percent of scholarships are reserved for government primary school students and 20 percent for private school students — creating institutional discrimination in a national merit-based exam, it said. Under clause 8.6 of the policy, government and private school students are arranged to compete separately, eliminating a single merit-based evaluation system.
Such provisions are contrary to the constitution’s principles of equality and anti-discrimination, the notice said. The 80:20 institutional quota and separate competitive framework introduced under clauses 8.1.1 and 8.3.1 are inconsistent with the constitution’s principle of equality, it said. Any classification must be based on a rational foundation, with a rational relationship between the classification and the basis for that classification, the notice said.
The division being drawn in the current policy on the basis of institution type — government or private — for awarding scholarships is irrational, discriminatory and arbitrary, the notice said. The constitution does not support such arbitrary division.
The notice also said separate programs are already running to support poor and disadvantaged students through the primary education stipend program. Reimposing an institutional quota on a merit-based scholarship exam is therefore irrational and inconsistent, it said.
If the results of the recently held scholarship exam are released under the 2026 policy, participants from private institutions will be unjustly discriminated against, the notice said. This will create a negative and adverse perception of the state’s moral foundation in the minds of young students.
Considering the above, the notice asked authorities to halt the release of the 2025 primary scholarship exam results, reconsider clauses 8.1.1, 8.3.1 and 8.6 of the policy, and adopt a single merit-based evaluation system that ensures equal opportunity for all students.
The notice said further legal steps will be taken in the public interest if necessary action is not taken within the next three working days.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report