Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir has strongly demanded the temporary postponement of the HSC examinations because of waterlogging at examination centers in the capital, Dhaka, and various parts of the country.
In a joint statement on Monday (July 13), central president Nurul Islam and secretary general Sibgatullah said vast areas of various divisions of the country were currently facing an unprecedented natural disaster. The communication systems of numerous upazilas and urban areas had been severely disrupted, they said, and many examination centers had been hit by waterlogging, ruining the environment needed for holding examinations. Continuing the examinations while ignoring the real situation at such a moment of national crisis was seriously disrupting students’ safety and the normal examination environment, they said, urging the government to temporarily postpone the ongoing HSC examinations.
The Shibir leaders also said that mental stability and a suitable environment were extremely important for students to achieve the desired results in any public examination, yet students were being forced to attend examination centers amid extreme adversity and a broken communication system. Many students had had to cross flooded and risky routes to sit the examinations in adverse conditions, they said, and this rigid stance by policymakers had created a serious threat to students’ physical safety and mental health. A decision to continue the examinations could in no way be student-friendly or humane, they added.
The Shibir president and secretary general said the disaster would also have far-reaching negative effects on students’ path to higher education, as delays in the ongoing examinations and field-level mismanagement would deprive examinees of the time needed to prepare for university admission, negatively affecting their higher-education preparation, opportunities and the development of their talent. It was the state’s moral duty to give students’ lives, health and mental protection the highest priority in any crisis, they said, and they strongly demanded that the government immediately postpone the ongoing HSC examinations temporarily until the flood situation returned fully to normal and a suitable environment for holding examinations was ensured.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report