Propaganda centring HSC exam hurdles spreads on social media

Rumour and propaganda have been widely spread on social media sites, including Facebook, over the ongoing movement of HSC students demanding the resignation of Education Minister ANM Ehsanul Hoque Milon as his ministry did not postpone the HSC examination on 13 July despite the heavy rain across the country.

The rumour and propaganda have been circulated in different ways, including by photocards bearing the names of multiple newspapers and television channels.

With these ill-intentioned attempts, outsiders have joined the movement.

Some of the protesters demanded the return of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and former Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni.

On Tuesday, students of different educational institutions demonstrated at different places across the country with the demand Different kinds of photocards were also spread through Facebook accounts and pages, including those named Awami League Paribar, Pathalia Union Chhatra League, Maati o Manush, with multiple statements on reported killings.

But Rumour Scanner Bangladesh, a fact-checking organisation, checked the Facebook posts and statuses and said that no one was killed.

Besides, no killing incident was reported by law enforcement agencies or family members.

Niaz Mehedi, additional deputy commissioner (Media and PR) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said that no one died during the movement on Tuesday.

The Dissent, a fact-checking organisation, said rumour and propaganda have been circulated over the movement.

In another incident, a large rally was labelled as the demonstration against the education minister at Fatikchhari in Chattogram on 14 July.

But Rumour Scanner Bangladesh said that the students of 25 educational institutions took to the streets demanding the shifting of the Fatikchhari Upazila Headquarters to a logical place.

A Facebook account named “Md Jakir Hossain Kotowal” said in a post at 6:05 pm on Wednesday that the leaders and activists of Chhatra Dal attacked the students who are demonstrating for the resignation of the education minister in Dinajpur.

But no such incident happened there, said police, and no such claim was made by the students.

On Wednesday, a group of students demonstrated near the National Parliament area.

In the movement, vice-president of the banned Chhatra League's Noakhali district unit Md Arif was seen.

A youth riding on a motorcycle joined the movement in the capital on Wednesday.

When some journalists asked if he was a student, he replied that he was a student of Singair Government College in Manikganj.

When asked why he came to the capital from Manikganj, his response was unsatisfactory.

When he was asked to show his ID card, he began to move away from the spot.

At one point, he confessed that he was not a student and was an outsider.

Another youth who demonstrated at Science Lab on Tuesday claimed to be a student of Dhaka City College but wore an ID card of a female student.

When he was asked why he wore such an ID card, he said that he mistakenly left his ID at his residence.

Emarat Hossain, a school student of Adarsha High School in Dakhinkhan, took to the street at Uttara on Wednesday with a demand for the resignation of the minister. When he was asked, he told the media that he was a student of HSC first year. But when he was challenged, he showed his ID card showing that he was a school student.

In response to a question, he said that he joined the movement upon the request of one Ashik.