Students protest teacher transfers following flood-marred HSC exams in Comilla
Photo Collected
More than a hundred students staged a protest at the Comilla Government Women’s College on Saturday, demanding the immediate reversal of transfer orders issued to seven faculty members. The disciplinary action followed a controversial incident on July 13, when roughly 1,000 students were forced to wade through waist-deep floodwaters to reach the college campus for their Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinations.
Tensions escalated at the demonstration around 11:30 a.m. when one of the targeted educators, Associate Professor Mohammad Mohsin of the English department, arrived at the scene. In an emotional plea, the professor knelt before the students, tearfully imploring them to end the protest. He expressed deep concern that the agitation could jeopardize his government career and leave his family destitute, urging the students to disperse for his own professional security. The display prompted a somber reaction from the students, who remained resolute in their belief that the teachers were being unfairly scapegoated for broader systemic failures.
বিজ্ঞাপন
The Ministry of Education issued the transfer orders on July 23, ten days after the flooding incident. The notification, signed by Deputy Secretary Md. Abdus Quddus, reassigned the seven educators to various colleges across the country and placed them as Officers on Special Duty (OSD) at the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education. Notably, the official order provided no specific justification for the transfers.
Students argued that the responsibility for the flooding lies with the city administration, not the teaching staff. Critics of the government’s decision pointed out that the entire city was submerged due to record-breaking rainfall, with 107 millimeters falling in just three hours. Participants in the protest questioned why the administration failed to take action against municipal authorities for failing to mitigate the city’s chronic waterlogging, choosing instead to penalize academics who had no control over the infrastructure.
বিজ্ঞাপন
Among those transferred are the college’s acting principal, the exam committee convener, and the secretary of the teachers’ council. College sources noted that the vice-principal, also included in the transfers, was not even involved in the exam management, as his son was a candidate at the center, necessitating his recusal from official duties during that period.
The incident on July 13 drew widespread public criticism as images of students sitting for three-hour examinations in sodden clothing circulated online. While the protest continues, the students maintain that their instructors are being treated as collateral damage in an effort to divert attention from the city’s long-standing failure to address severe urban flooding.
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