Education Minister Expresses Regret, Monday's Exam May Be Retaken

Education and Primary & Mass Education Minister Dr. A N M Ehsanul Hoque Milon has expressed formal regret on the floor of the National Parliament for his recent personal remarks regarding the countrywide student movement.

The minister issued the statement at 7:30 PM on Tuesday (July 14) during the budget session of the Jatiya Sangsad. Addressing the house, Milon clarified that his comments were not meant to intentionally demean anyone, adding:

"Many have raised objections regarding my personal remarks. I did not say anything to anyone intentionally. Nevertheless, if anyone has felt hurt or aggrieved by my words, I express my sincere regret."

The minister's statement was greeted with approval by the treasury benches, as present Members of Parliament banged their tables to welcome the move.

Addressing the core grievances of the demonstrating Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) candidates, the minister acknowledged that thousands of students marched toward the National Parliament building today demanding a postponement of the examinations.

Milon revealed that the ministry has extensively reviewed the ground realities, acknowledging that Monday's Physics, Accounting, and Logic examinations were severely disrupted by relentless downpours.

"We have received numerous complaints that due to the heavy downpours during yesterday's exams, many candidates were completely drenched and were unable to sit for their tests properly. While we maintained continuous field monitoring, the demands of the students have been registered," Milon stated.

The education minister pointed out that due to severe regional flooding, all examinations under the Chittagong Education Board had already been suspended, necessitating a complete rescheduling using an alternative set of question papers.

Milon hinted at a potential solution for the rain-affected candidates under other boards, stating:

"We have analyzed the scenario. When we organize the makeup examinations for the Chittagong Board using a separate question set, we can simultaneously arrange to re-administer the Physics, Accounting, and Logic tests for the affected students of other boards as well, InshaAllah."

The floor discussion followed a supplementary question raised earlier by independent MP Rumeen Farhana (Brahmanbaria-2), who questioned the ministry's failure to defer the high-stakes public examinations by one or two days despite visible, severe urban waterlogging across Dhaka and Chittagong.

Defending the initial decision, Milon explained that until 5:00 PM on the eve of the exams, the ministry held close coordination meetings with Superintendents of Police (SPs) in 64 districts, eight Divisional Commissioners, all education board chairmen, and the Bangladesh Meteorological Department. Based on unanimous field reports predicting an immediate improvement in weather conditions, the administration decided to proceed with the schedule across the 2,700 centers.

Highlighting the emergency measures implemented at the Comilla Government Women’s College—the only center recorded to have suffered severe inundation—the minister noted that local authorities deployed boats to ferry candidates to a five-story building. The test at the venue was delayed by an hour, and an extra hour was added to ensure candidates received their full testing time, while drenched students were allowed to bring in changes of clothes from home.