Education stays shut inside BDR HQ
The four schools and colleges inside the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) Headquarters bearing evidence of atrocities during the February 25-26 bloody mutiny are unlikely to reopen immediately to the frustration of around 10,000 students.
The authorities have kept Birshrestha Munshi Abdur Rouf Rifles College, Bir Shrestha Noor Mohammad Rifles Public School and College, BDR Government Primary School and Fazlur Rahman Bir Protik English Medium School at the BDR headquarters closed as the classrooms, teachers' rooms, playgrounds and premises of the institutions are considered vital to investigation into the BDR mutiny.
Newly appointed BDR Director General Brig Gen Md Mainul Islam said the four educational institutions will not be allowed to repair their classrooms and other rooms or reopen immediately until they receive any court order.
"We are trying to reopen the schools and colleges soon considering the future of the students. But they cannot be reopened until all evidence is collected from there," the BDR chief told The Daily Star.
Neither the teachers nor the BDR authorities could confirm the date for reopening the institutions.
However, on March 8 the teachers, principals and the governing bodies of the institutions at a meeting set March 25 as possible date for reopening the four educational institutions.
The meeting also decided to allow teachers and Secondary School Certificate (SSC) science students to enter the schools from February 17 to 19 by school buses through gate-4 for practical examinations, said teachers.
Many examinations including monthly tests scheduled for February 28, first-term examinations from class-I to X slated for March 28, evaluation exam for HSC examinees scheduled for March 01 have already been postponed following the mutiny.
The employees of the institutions will be allowed to enter the BDR headquarters on March 11 to do necessary work for restoring educational atmosphere there.
"But we do not know how many days it will take to do that," said Mainuddin Biswas, a mathematics teacher of Birshrestha Munshi Abdur Rouf Rifles College.
Apart from the kids of BDR and army personnel, the children of many civilians also study in the four institutions some of whom now consider transferring their children to other educational institutions fearing reoccurrence of such incident.
"The four schools and colleges were closed from February 24 to 27 for BDR Week-2009. Many students might have got killed if the institutions were open during the mutiny," said Ayesa Khatun, the mother of a student of Bir Shrestha Noor Mohammad Rifles Public School and College.
Ayesa said she is now trying to transfer her child to another school outside the BDR headquarters.
Meanwhile, the SSC examinees, who failed to sit for examinations because of the BDR mutiny, have been asked to apply to the controller of examinations of the education boards concerned by March 10.
The affected students have been asked to consult the headmasters of their schools and collect the new exam schedule from March 19, teachers said.
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