Govt takes U-turn on grade-based admission to varsities

The government has backtracked from its decision to enroll students in all public and private universities based on their secondary and higher secondary school results, just a day after it issued a directive in this connection, sources said.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Ministry of Education (MoE) issued an order asking all the vice chancellors (VCs) of the public and private universities to take the new admission measure for their respective institutions from the next academic year.

"It is true that the government has backed off from its decision of allowing university enrollment considering only academic results of the admission seekers," additional secretary (universities) of the MoE Md Helal Uddin told the FE on Thursday.

However, the senior official refused to disclose any reason as to why the ministry has taken a U-turn relating to the decision. "Please don't ask me about the motive behind the cancellation of the order," he said.

The official said now they will send the cancellation order soon to all the public and private university authorities to whom the ministry had issued the earlier order.

Preferring anonymity, another senior official at the ministry said Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid suddenly sought the file related to the matter and marked it for further discussion over the issue.

"The ministry has taken the fresh measure considering the sufferings of the students and their guardians while taking part in the admission tests across country," the official noted.

The official said every year students need to spend a large amount of money and valuable time to take part at the admission tests across the country.