Admission of 169 students of Viqarunnisa cancelled; DSHE on investigation

The Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE) has decided to cancel the admission of 169 students of Class 1 of Viqarunnisa Noon School and College for violating the age limit. These students were admitted in 2024 academic year. The reason why these students were admitted without following the rules will be investigated.

DSHE has filed a report in the High Court stating this decision on Wednesday.

Challenging the admission of 169 students, the parents of two other students filed a writ petition.

In view of the application, Deputy Attorney General Kazi Mainul Hasan submitted the report on behalf of DSHE in the High Court bench of Justice JBM Hasan and Justice Raziq-al-Jalil.

The Deputy Attorney General said that the court asked the Viqarunnisa authorities to implement DSHE‍‍`s decision and to submit a report in this regard before March 6.

He said the Viqarunnisa Noon School and College authorities have fixed the age limit in the admission policy as per DSHE‍‍`s instructions.

As per policy, students born before January 1, 2017 will be considered ineligible for the admission of Class 1 in Viqarunnisa Noon School. But those 169 students were born in 2015 and 2016 and were admitted in violation of the admission age limit policy.

Muhammad Rafiul Islam, a lawyer for Viqarunnisa School, said that based on DSHE‍‍`s report, the governing body of Viqarunnisa will hold a meeting and take further measures. Viqarunnisa School and College in consultation with DSHE admitted the 169 students in branches of Bailey Road, Azimpur, Dhanmondi and Bashundhara through lottery system in January this year.

Director General of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education, Professor Nehal Ahmed, said, "The lower age limit (6+) is mentioned in the admission policy. And the upper age limit is asked to be determined by the educational institution. Viqarunnisa Noon School and College itself has not followed the upper age limit set by itself. The court asked to settle the matter. That is why the institution has been ordered to cancel the admission."

When asked about this, Viqarunnisa‍‍`s acting principal, Keka Roy Chowdhury said, "Department of Secondary and Higher Education had ordered that student admissions be cancelled. We‍‍`re working on it."