Editorial
Cancelling classes to greet minister
Abuse of government order
Students of nearly 85 educational institutions including schools, madrasas and colleges in the Charfassion upazilla of Bhola were made to abandon classes on Saturday to greet the home minister. This is deplorable and a clear violation of the government directive in this regard.
While students were made to queue up on roadsides, the teachers had to attend a meeting with the minister organised by the administration. To top it all, exams scheduled for the day were put off to a later date. Although government officials involved with the day's programme denied having given any instruction to the educational institutions, teachers and guardians categorically made it clear that they had received specific instructions from government authorities to do so.
This is outrageous, to say the least. What was the purpose of it all? What did the concerned authorities try to prove by this? The home ministry, we believe, owes us an explanation as to why this had to be done and how the students were benefited from this. Why should the schools were closed down for the day and students made to endure the sun and the rain just to greet a minister who was on government duty?
As we know it, the government in December 2009 issued a notification clearly forbidding closure of schools and queuing up of students during visits of government high-ups, which is observed in its breach. If government servants pay no heed to government orders what can we expect of the public?
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