DHAKA: Several hundred students blocked major intersections in Bangladesh’s capital on Wednesday, demanding the resignation of the education minister over his handling of nationwide school-leaving examinations disrupted by floods.

Protests that grew from an online campaign spilled onto Dhaka’s streets on Tuesday and continued into Wednesday, snarling traffic in parts of the city.

The demonstrations were sparked by the education ministry’s refusal to cancel one paper of the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examination despite torrential rain flooding examination centres and forcing some candidates to travel by boat to reach test venues.

“We will continue our protests until the minister resigns,” Faisal Khan, an HSC candidate, said.

“Ignoring our request, he mocked us by saying we are broiler chickens that catch cold easily. We want to show him what broiler chickens can do,” Khan said.

He also drew a comparison with student-led protests in 2024 that helped topple former prime minister Sheikh Hasina. “A group of people had to flee the country after making derogatory remarks about students,” said Faisal Khan, alluding to weeks of demonstrations that ended in Hasina’s ouster.

A student who declined to be named for fear of reprisals said the education minister, Ehsanul Hoque Milon, was out of touch with students’ concerns.

“He keeps saying he wants to stop cheating in examinations and ignores almost every other issue,” she said.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2026