HC questions shutting down N’ganj school

The High Court yesterday asked the authorities concerned to submit a report in two weeks explaining why Dredger Junior High School in Narayanganj, ran by the Bangladesh Power Development Board, have been shut down.

The Director General (DG) of Bangladesh Power Development Board and chief engineer of its Dredger Division have been asked to submit the report.

The bench of Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Md Khairul Alam passed the order following a writ petition filed by Barrister Kazi Akhtar Hosain seeking necessary orders.

He submitted the petition following a report published in Bangla daily Prothom Alo on January 30 regarding the closing down of the school.

The court also issued a rule asking the respondents to explain why depriving the students from education should not be declared illegal and why school authorities should not be directed to resume academic activities.

Education secretary and water resources secretary, director general of Bangladesh Power Development Board and chief engineer and additional chief engineer of its Dredger Division in Narayanganj and five others concerned have been made respondents to the rule.

Following a verbal instruction by Shamsudin Ahmed, additional chief engineer of the Dredger Division of Narayanganj, the school was closed down in December last year without arranging any alternative, the petition said.

Most of the school’s students, who belong to underprivileged families, are being deprived of education after the institution closed down, the petition added.

Kazi Akhtar Hosain, Mohiuddin Md Hanif and AHM Rehanul Kabir Rony appeared for the petitioner, while Deputy Attorney General Motaher Hossain Sazu represented the government.