HSC Candidates Besiege Dhaka Education Board

Following a series of intense street demonstrations stretching across the capital, protesting Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) candidates have marched onto the Dhaka Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board, keeping the board headquarters effectively besieged. The students marched through the Dhaka University campus before taking up positions in front of the board building to press home an explicit three-point charter of demands.

The demonstration initiated earlier in the day at around 11:45 AM, when a large group of candidates identifying as the HSC Batch of 2026 blocked the critical Science Laboratory intersection. After staging a protest at the crossroad, the demonstrators marched through Nilkhet and entered the Dhaka University campus through the Toron Gate.

At approximately 12:55 PM, the procession reached the eastern side of the DU Vice-Chancellor's residence, where it was intercepted by a large contingent of police. Because Prime Minister Tarique Rahman was attending a summit nearby at the Senate Bhaban, security was tightly reinforced, and additional law enforcement units were deployed to the spot. Following a brief standoff with the police inside the campus, the students altered their route, exiting through the Toron Gate toward Palashi Crossing to directly surround the Dhaka Education Board headquarters.

The demonstrating candidates have formalized a three-point charter of demands, warning authorities of escalating actions if they are not addressed:

• Immediate Exam Postponement: The ongoing HSC and equivalent examinations must be suspended entirely until the countrywide natural disaster and severe weather conditions fully recede.

• Compensatory Retests: A fair re-examination must be arranged for all candidates who failed to attend their scheduled tests on July 13 due to severe flooding, continuous downpours, and urban waterlogging.

• Resignation of the Minister: Education and Primary & Mass Education Minister Dr. A N M Ehsanul Hoque Milon must resign from his cabinet position within the next 24 hours.

The students gathered outside the board administration building, chanting slogans against the ministry's management of the examination schedule and reinforcing that their sit-in would continue until definitive assurances are provided by top board officials.