Merit Assessment Exam Activities of Primary Students Suspended for One Month

The High Court has suspended the merit assessment examination activities of government primary school students for one month.

Following a preliminary hearing of a writ petition related to the matter, a High Court bench comprising Justice Fahmida Kader and Justice Md. Asif Hasan issued the order along with a rule on Sunday (December 14), according to lawyer sources.

Lawyer Niaz Morshed appeared in court on behalf of the writ petitioners during the hearing.

He said that the merit assessment exams for government primary school students were scheduled to be held on December 21, 22, 23, and 24. The High Court has suspended the activities of a memorandum issued by the Directorate of Primary Education on November 11 (signed on November 19) related to this matter.

The said memorandum of the Directorate of Primary Education announced the schedule of the students’ merit assessment examination. Challenging the legality of this memorandum, Md. Faruk Hossain, Director of Keraniganj Public Laboratory School, along with two guardians, filed the writ petition on December 10.

The lawyer stated that the High Court has suspended the merit assessment examination activities of government primary school students for one month. As a result, the examination will not be held. He added that organizing such a merit assessment examination only for government primary school students violates the High Court verdict delivered on November 3.

Earlier, through a memorandum issued on July 17, the Directorate of Primary Education stated that only students of government educational institutions would be allowed to participate in the primary scholarship examination. The government primary school scholarship examination for 2025 was scheduled to be held from December 21 to 24. After the final hearing of a writ petition filed over this issue, the High Court delivered its verdict on November 3.

In its verdict, the High Court declared the decision of the Directorate of Primary Education (dated July 17) illegal. At the same time, the court directed that the scholarship examination be organized in accordance with the 2008 Primary Scholarship Management Policy by allowing eligible students from non-government educational institutions. To this end, the court instructed the Secretary of the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education to issue a letter within 15 days.

Seeking a stay on this verdict, the Directorate of Primary Education filed a leave to appeal, which is currently awaiting hearing.

In this situation, the Directorate of Primary Education issued the said memorandum on November 11 (signed on November 19, 2025), the writ petitioners’ lawyer Niaz Morshed said. He added that the schedule for the merit assessment examination of government primary school students was fixed following the dates that were earlier set for the government primary scholarship examination.

He alleged that, in a calculated move to exclude students of non-government primary schools, only the name of the examination was changed.