The teachers and students of six high schools and five Dakhil (secondary level) madrasas in newly formed Rangabali upazila under the district joined the reception of a state minister on Saturday, suspending the scheduled examinations at the institutions.
At the reception organised by upazila unit of Awami League at Rangabali High School field at about 2:00pm on Saturday, Mahbubur Rahman Talukder, state minister for water resources, announced Rangabali as a new upazila, showing copy of a gazette notification to the locals.
As per schedule, examinations of Bangla 2nd paper in the high schools and Arabic in the madrasas were to be held from 10:00am to 1:00pm on the day but authorities of the institutions decided to shift the examinations to next Friday (weekly holiday), sources said.
"Reception meeting in honour of the state minister was organised in the school field. And so, I suspended the scheduled examination on the day. It will be held later," said Nirmal Chandra Das, acting headmaster of Rangabali High School.
"Local UP chairman, also a member of the managing committee of the school, asked me to join the minister's meeting. I with my colleagues and students joined the meeting as all educational institutions in the area did the same," said Fazlur Rahman, headmaster of Chhotobaishdia F Karim High School.
When contacted, Ahsan Kabir Chan, president of Rangabali upazila unit of Awami League, said, "We did not invite any educational institution to join the meeting. They may have joined it willingly as the minister announced Rangabali as a new upazila at the function."
As per directives issued by the education ministry, no institution can make its students join a VIP's reception, said acting district education officer Subhas Chandra.
Source : The Daily Star
