Zakir Hossain / Dhaka
Violent protests broke out in Dhaka on Tuesday as agitated students stormed Bangladesh’s Secretariat, demanding the resignation of the education adviser and secretary over the last-minute postponement of the HSC examinations following Monday’s deadly Air Force jet crash at Milestone School and College.
Law enforcement officers fired tear gas shells and baton-charged protesters after students broke open Gate no. 1 of the Secretariat around 3:45pm. Brick chunks were hurled from both sides, leaving at least 20 people injured. Several vehicles were vandalised, and the area descended into chaos as the authorities tried to disperse the crowd. Injured students were transported to hospitals on rickshaws and vans, witnesses said.
The protests began around 2:15pm with students from various colleges in Dhanmondi and surrounding areas marching to the Dhaka Education Board and then towards the Secretariat. The demonstrators were angered by the 3:00am decision to postpone Tuesday’s HSC exams—hours before they were scheduled—without proper notification.
“I came to know about the postponement while leaving home for the exam,” said Zonaed Ahmed, an HSC candidate from Cantonment School and College. “After such a massive tragedy, why was the decision taken so late? I don’t want to see such an inconsiderate adviser and secretary. That’s why I’m here.”
Chanting slogans like “Why do our brothers die? The administration must reply!”, students demanded accountability. Security forces, including police and army personnel, were deployed across all Secretariat gates to prevent further escalation.
Vehicular movement in the area was severely disrupted. In response to the unrest, the government removed Senior Education Secretary Siddique Zobair from his post. The decision was announced by Mahfuz Alam, Adviser on Information and Broadcasting, through a verified Facebook post. “The education secretary has already been removed. A committee will soon be formed to investigate the Milestone tragedy and incorporate the students’ six-point demand into its scope,” he stated.
Apurba Jahangir, Deputy Press Secretary to the Chief Adviser, confirmed the move and said a committee would also assess other student demands. However, no official explanation for the secretary’s removal has been provided. The clashes came a day after the crash of an Air Force F-7 BGI fighter jet into the campus of Milestone School and College in Uttara, which killed 31 people, most of them students, and injured more than 160.