A group of Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) candidates, who failed or got poor results, protested in Dhaka, Chattogram, Jashore, Cumilla, and Mymensingh on Sunday demanding cancellation of their results and re-evaluation of their scores.
In Dhaka, students stormed the Dhaka Education Board premises after breaking the locks on the main gate, said a spot account of the incident.
They claimed that they were attacked when entering the board office, with several students reportedly injured in the incident. They are now demanding justice for the alleged assault.
Board officials said that the students vandalized tables and chairs inside the premises. Police and military personnel were present at the scene to maintain order.
On October 15, HSC and equivalent exam results were released. Students alleged that the results were "discriminatory". The protesters called for a recalculation of their grades.
Under the banner "HSC Batch 2024", the students gathered at the Central Shaheed Minar around 12:30pm and marched towards the Dhaka Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board.
The students questioned the notion of equality in the examinations as seven exams were conducted under the Dhaka Education Board but only three were held under the Sylhet Education Board.
They further alleged that errors in subject mapping and improper evaluation of answer scripts resulted in unfair grading. The protesters said they would continue their demonstrations until their results are reassessed.
In Chattogram, a group of HSC students who failed the recent HSC and equivalent examination staged a demonstration at Chittagong Education Board.
The demonstration began at 11:00am in the day in front of the main entrance of the education board. They claimed that they failed due to the "subject mapping" method.
Board sources said a group of students gathered on the board premises chanting various slogans. They said they failed the exams due to result discrimination. They demand republication of their results as per their SSC GPA.
Later, police and army personnel rushed to the spot and tried to quell the situation. The situation was brought under control in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, a similar gathering took place in front of Jashore Education Board.
Hundreds of students of various colleges, who failed their HSC and equivalent exams, joined the protest against the education board from the noon.
The students complained that the board authorities gave fake results, alleging that the Jashore Board’s English questions were easy but large numbers of student failed in that subject.
The chairman of the board, Professor Morjina Akhter, held a discussion with the protesting students in the presence of army, police and anti-discrimination student leaders.
She said that the demands of the agitators are unreasonable and baseless, saying, "Some students who failed in the examination have carried out the agitation program. Few students are doing such activities after receiving misleading information.”
In Cumilla, a group of students thronged at the premises of the Cumilla Education Board around in the noon, demanding re-evaluation for English and ICT subjects in the 2024 HSC examinations.
Later, some student representatives were given permission to see the board chairman and place their demands to him.
Professor Nizamul Karim, chairman of Cumilla Education Board, assured that students that their demands will be placed to the education ministry and that the education adviser and ministry will take further decisions.
Besides, a group of HSC students agitated in front of Mymensingh Education Board on Sunday afternoon.
Earlier in the morning, the students gathered at Mymensingh Town Hall premises and later started agitating in front of the education board at city’s Kathgola area.
