9 students expelled for chanting 'Joy Bangla, Joy Bangabandhu' slogans in classroom
Photo: Agamir Somoy
The authorities of Gopalganj Government Zilla School have issued transfer certificates (TCs) to nine students of classes eight, nine, and ten, including a ninth-grader, over an incident of chanting "Joy Bangla, Joy Bangabandhu" slogans in a classroom.
The TCs were issued to the accused students on Thursday (November 5) based on an investigation report. School Principal Md. Ziaul Haque confirmed the matter to Agamir Somoy.
According to school sources, on October 6, after tiffin break at noon, several students chanted political slogans inside the classroom. It was alleged that they chanted slogans of a banned organization at the time. Later, a video of the incident was recorded on a mobile phone and spread on social media platform Facebook. The video went viral within moments.
The day after the incident, on October 7, a seven-member investigation committee was formed headed by the school's assistant teacher Md. Iqbal Hossain. The committee prepared its report after reviewing the school's CCTV footage and the circulated video. The report was submitted to the principal on Wednesday (November 4). Following this, the authorities decided to issue TCs to the nine students.
Assistant teacher Iqbal Hossain, head of the investigation committee, told journalists that the investigation report was submitted to the principal after reviewing the video footage of the incident of political slogans being chanted on the school campus. Accordingly, the students were issued TCs as per the decision of the school authorities.
Principal Md. Ziaul Haque said that on October 6 last, several students chanted slogans of a banned political organization inside the school. He was at prayers at the time of the incident. Later, after prayers, an intelligence agency called to ask about the procession. He then confirmed the matter with other teachers.
He further said that the decision was taken against the accused students as per the instructions of higher authorities.
