Bangladesh cancels higher secondary exams following political unrest

Bangladesh on Tuesday announced that all higher secondary school and equivalent exams scheduled for 2024 are cancelled hours after hundreds of students stormed the Secretarial, a compound housing federal government offices in the capital Dhaka.

The higher secondary school exams were suspended in the middle of the mass uprising that resulted in the fall of the Awami League government, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Tapan Kumar Sarkar, head of the Inter-Education Board Coordination Committee, announced the decision at a press conference held at the Secretariat on Tuesday afternoon.

He said a decision on the results process would be made later.

This is the first time in the South Asian nation's history that such public examinations have been cancelled midway through the schedule. This year, approximately 1.4 million students across the country were taking the exams.

Earlier on Tuesday, several hundred students stormed the Secretariat, demanding that the remaining exams be cancelled and the results be released through subject mapping.

The students forced their way through police barriers at the gate near Zero Point to enter the Secretariat at around 2:00 p.m. local time (0800GMT).