Highway blockades, demanding immediate resignation of Education Minister A.N.M. Ehsanul Hoque Milan

TBM Report

A massive wave of student unrest and synchronized highway blockades erupted across at least 14 major districts in Bangladesh on Tuesday, as HSC examinees demanded the immediate resignation of Education Minister A N M Ehsanul Hoque Milan. The widespread demonstrations were triggered by the ministry’s contentious decision to proceed with the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinations despite devastating regional floods, severe waterlogging, and torrential monsoon rains. Public anger escalated significantly following an alleged leaked audio statement in which the minister insultingly referred to the protesting students as “farm chickens” or “broiler chickens.”

The derogatory remarks sparked an immediate and volatile backlash from the nation’s Gen-Z demographic, transitioning rapidly from physical streets to digital spaces. In a direct display of political satire and digital activism, students launched a dedicated Facebook page titled “Broiler Chicken Party,” operating under the defiant motto, “We are not insulted, We are awakened.” The digital platform rapidly garnered thousands of active followers within hours, serving as a primary operational hub for disseminating real-time photographs, protest schedules, and video broadcasts of the ongoing nationwide agitations.

Operationally, the protesting examinees have put forward a strict 24-hour ultimatum demanding the immediate resignation of the Education Minister, a formal public apology for his derogatory remarks, and the absolute suspension of all ongoing examinations until regional flood situations stabilize. Furthermore, the students are demanding comprehensive re-examinations for thousands of candidates who were physically unable to reach their designated test centers during Monday’s Physics Paper-I examination due to flash floods and severe infrastructural inundation. Protesters also alleged that the Physics question paper was intentionally designed outside the official shortened syllabus, making it exceptionally difficult.

In Savar, located on the outskirts of the capital, hundreds of students converged at the prominent Shahid Yamin Square in the Pakiza zone, enforcing a total blockade on the vital Dhaka-Aricha highway. The sudden disruption completely paralyzed non-motorized and commercial vehicular movement for over an hour, stranding hundreds of long-distance cargo trucks and commuter buses, thereby causing extensive logistical tailbacks. Local eyewitnesses reported that students from diverse regional colleges chanted coordinated slogans demanding structural reforms within the national board administration and the immediate accountability of top education executives.

Simultaneously, the port city of Chattogram witnessed intense demonstrations as hundreds of intermediate students occupied the strategic Sholashahar and No. 2 Gate intersections. Despite a heavy deployment of regional police personnel to maintain public order, the student collective successfully marched to the headquarters of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Chattogram. A designated student delegation formally entered the administrative building and submitted a comprehensive memorandum containing their three primary demands to the Board Secretary, insisting on the immediate re-issuance of admit cards destroyed by floodwaters.

The geopolitical and transit impact was acutely felt along the vital Dhaka-Barisal highway, where students staged an indefinite sit-in directly in front of the Barisal Education Board. The comprehensive blockade forced a complete suspension of inter-district bus services from the central Nathullabad Bus Terminal, shutting down operations across 14 separate regional transit routes. The resulting gridlock trapped multiple emergency ambulances and critical medical patients under sweltering summer heatwaves, escalating public distress as stranded families desperately searched for alternative medical transportation.

Further west in Khulna, angry students converged at the highly congested Shibbari Intersection, effectively halting municipal traffic. The protesters raised specific academic grievances, demonstrating that questions 6 and 7 of the Physics Paper-I were factually erroneous and structurally flawed, which they attributed to institutional negligence within the ministry. Similar scenes of intense highway blockades were documented across the Town Hall area of Mymensingh, the Kandirpar Pubali Square in Cumilla, and the central intersections of Jamalpur district, where students explicitly questioned the government’s empathy toward flood victims.

In the northern educational hub of Bogura, the historic Satmatha intersection was subjected to a total civic blockade after the District Commissioner failed to provide immediate administrative assurances during a closed-door meeting with student representatives. The gridlock drew the attention of local political leaders who attempted to mediate the crisis, though students maintained their blockades late into the afternoon. Concurrently, in Tangail, an intense blockade near the Jalpai bypass closed the strategic Dhaka-Tangail-Jamuna Bridge highway, stranding hundreds of northern-bound cargo vehicles for nearly two hours.

The institutional gridlock reached a climax in Rajshahi, where hundreds of students breached the outer perimeters of the Rajshahi Education Board to launch an indefinite siege, forcing the Board Chairman to accept their institutional grievances. Regional sit-ins were also sustained at the Central Shaheed Minar in Sylhet, generating massive urban gridlocks, while human chains and protest rallies were carried out in frontline flood-affected districts including Kurigram, Sunamganj, and Naogaon. The global bilingual sub-editors verified that the current mobilization marks one of the largest coordinated student protests against academic infrastructure mismanagement in recent regional history.