Bangladeshi MP slams education minister for 'experimenting' with students' future

Hasnat Abdullah, Chief Organiser (South) of the National Citizen Party (NCP) and Member of Parliament for Cumilla-4, has strongly criticized the education minister, accusing the government of conducting harmful experiments with students' futures. Abdullah asserted that the minister owes his position to the very students who protested during the July Uprising, famously referred to by the minister as 'farm chickens'.

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You call them [students] 'farm chickens'. It is these so-called 'farm chickens' who took to the streets and made you the education minister.

Abdullah highlighted the plight of Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinees who were forced to sit for their exams despite wading through knee-deep, and in some areas chest-deep, floodwaters to reach examination centers. He also pointed to the inclusion of "flawed creative questions" in the exams, emphasizing the mental stress this caused students. "You cannot continue experimenting on other people’s children. This will no longer be tolerated in Bangladesh," Abdullah declared at an NCP rally in Sonargaon, Narayanganj.

The NCP leader further accused the education minister of repeatedly introducing and then withdrawing new systems, suggesting this was possible because the minister's own children study abroad. Abdullah urged the government to cease treating students as "guinea pigs" and to stop experimenting with the education system.

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You cannot continue experimenting on other people’s children. This will no longer be tolerated in Bangladesh.

Abdullah also extended his criticism to the home minister's recent statements in parliament regarding constitutional reform. He questioned the home minister's assertion that the constitution makes no provision for a constitutional reform committee, pointing out that the 2026 election, according to the constitution, should have been held in 2029. The MP accused the current government of showing contempt for students and the public by taking positions against them, contrasting this with the actions of students and people who took to the streets against the constitution.

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The home minister yesterday told parliament that there is no provision for a constitutional reform committee in the constitution. If that is the case, then the 2026 election was not in the constitution either. Going by the constitution, the election was supposed to be held in 2029.