Country\\\'s students at receiving end

Politics at its nastiest is taking its toll in myriad forms. Apart from the direct casualties of senseless violence, people with no allegiance to any party politics are finding themselves at the receiving end. In fact they have been held hostage to politics of recrimination. In the process, people's sufferings, travails, sense of insecurity and the dangers they are exposed to have become none of the politicians' concerns. Rival camps are rather busy reaping political dividends. Evidently, they lack the human quality to feel the depth of anguish, loss, tragedy and trauma individuals and families are forced to go through. Each death has its lasting impact on the surviving members of the deceased's family. This is inconsolable because the untimely and uncalled for life's end is no sacrifice for a great cause. A bereaved father like Monir's wears a vacant look that tells about the helplessness in the face of mindless cruelty and violence politics has triggered off.
Deaths and injuries on account of political violence apart, people's life has been terribly upset. The single largest group now bearing the brunt is the country's learners including the candidates of the Junior School Certificate (JSC) and the Primary School Certificate (PSC) examinations. This is the month when school final examinations are held every year. Already the academic year has been disturbed by the earlier political programmes like hartals. Even the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinations had to be rescheduled for such political programmes. As for the O and A-level examinations there is no scope for shifting the exam dates and the earlier 60-hour shut-down disrupted these examinations with the consequence of loss of academic year for many. Now the JSC exam routine has been rearranged. The same will happen to the PSC examinations unless, of course, something positive happens dramatically on the political front.
Then it is the turn of the students who are now seeking admission to universities. These are the students who once had to suffer at the time of their Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) exams. Now they have to travel to different cities or long distances for admission tests at different universities. Quite a large number of such eligible candidates had the first taste of how risky and uncertain their journey can be for this purpose. When hordes of political followers started smashing the windows and front glass of passenger buses -- about 50 such vehicles came under attack -- at a place near Mirsarai in protest against arrest of three leaders of the main opposition party in Dhaka, one can imagine how panicky the passengers including the candidates and their parents or guardians accompanying them were. On the one hand, their anxiety to sit for an admission test and, on the other, the trauma are likely to take a heavy toll on their preparation and mental make-up. Many could not make it to the Chittagong University of Science and Technology on time even after the admission test was started an hour later in consideration of the road communication disruption.
Similar undesirable developments are expected with other admission tests at other universities in Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet, Barisal, Mymensingh and elsewhere. Even the chances of candidates falling victim to senseless political violence on way to their admission test or on their return journey cannot be ruled out. Why cannot universities arrange for a single admission test so that students are not required to rush from one city to another or from villages to several cities? The engineering universities, like medical colleges, can take one such admission test. Similarly, the general universities too arrange for a minimum of one or two such admission tests in order to avoid waste of money, energy and risks involved on account of journey during political turmoil.