More thought needed before cancelling the HSC exams: Education adviser 

Education Adviser of the interim government Prof Wahiduddin Mahmud said the way it was decided to cancel the remaining examinations of this year's HSC and equivalent examinations and the incidents that happened centring on the matter on Tuesday were both unexpected.

He said more thought was needed before reaching the decision promptly to cancel the exams.

"It would have been better to take more time before reaching the decision," he said while briefing the media at the Secretariat on Wednesday.

Responding to a question from journalists, Prof Wahiduddin said he cannot decide about the issue of HSC exams alone. "Boards will discuss with experts and decide"

"Half of the HSC exams are already done. They [boards] will decide what to do finally," he added.

He further said the chairman of Dhaka Education Board is responsible for making any announcement regarding the matter.

The education adviser also talked about the university admission test for this year's HSC examinees at the next stage.

"How the universities conduct the admission test is not within the purview of the Ministry of Education. As the rest of the HSC exams are not being conducted, if the university wants to conduct more scrutiny during the admission test, that opportunity remains."

This year's HSC and equivalent examinations started on 30 June. However, after seven exams were conducted, the remaining ones were postponed owing to the situation arising from the mass uprising in July. Later, it was decided to conduct the remaining exams on six subjects from 11 September.

However, on 20 August, the government cancelled the remaining examinations after a group of HSC candidates held a demonstration at the Secretariat demanding cancellation of the postponed exams.

Later, Dhaka Education Board Chairman Prof Tapan Kumar Sarker told the media that the rest of the HSC exams will not be taken, and the method to prepare the results will be announced later.