Mohiuddin Alamgir

A Mercedes-Benz car, a Toyota Prado and a Mitsubishi Pajero are worth only Tk 17 lakh, believe it or not.

Girls have done better than boys in the two biggest public examinations -- Primary Education Completion Examination (PECE) and Junior School Certificate (JSC) Examinations -- this year.

The country’s politics, which has mostly been in a hiatus since the last general election a year ago, is likely to heat up ahead of Dhaka north and south city corporation polls on January 30.

More than half of primary schoolkids do not have the expected level of competence in mathematics and Bangla, reveals a new government assessment, raising questions about the quality of the country’s primary education.

Amid nationwide outrage and angry protests, the Liberation War affairs ministry yesterday suspended the controversial and flawed Razakars’ list three days after its publication.

With more names of freedom fighters cropping up on the Razakars’ list, the home and the Liberation War affairs ministers have traded blame over preparation of the list that has caused nationwide outrage.

They bravely fought in the Liberation War and one of them laid down his life to free the motherland from the clutches of the Pakistan army. They have been honoured by all as heroes since then.

It was a cold winter night. Some 75 freedom fighters were deftly making their way in a quiet village called Betiara; only the whooshing sound of breeze blowing through bamboo bushes and trees and the chirping of insects were disturbing the eerie silence.

The rift between the Election Commission Secretariat and the four election commissioners has widened further centring alleged irregularities in appointment of employees and the commissioners’ jurisdiction over the EC secretariat’s operations.

The government is going to publish the names of 11,000 Razakars who had been on Pakistan payroll and collaborated with the Pakistan occupation army in mass killings and carrying out atrocities against freedom fighters during the Liberation War.

Almost all the new textbooks have reached upazilas and the process has begun to send those to schools for distribution among students on January 1.

India is set to start in January the trial run for transporting goods between its northeastern states and other parts using Bangladesh’s Chattogram and Mongla ports.

If Asian universities collaborate among each other, it would open up opportunities for innovation and connect startups and entrepreneurs with global investment markets, said Baybars Altuntas, chairperson of World Business Angel Investment Forum.

Not long ago, flyers and posters could be seen on utility poles and the walls of buildings, footbridges and road dividers across the capital before any big event of the ruling Awami League or any of its associate bodies.

One month into the attacks on law enforcers, houses of Hindus and a temple in Bhola’s Borhanuddin upazila, police are yet to identify the masterminds behind those or the “hackers” who broke into the Facebook page of Biplob Chandra Baidya.

The number of Primary Education Completion Examination (PECE) candidates is on the decline for last five years while equivalent Ebtedayee Education Completion Examination candidates is on the rise.

The name says it all. Swechchhasebak League was founded in 1994 so that it volunteers during the political programmes of Awami League and stands beside those in need during natural disasters.

Sramik League leaders hardly work to ensure workers’ rights. They remain busy joining special day’s programmes, lobbying influential people and manipulating tenders, allege activists of the platform.

Academic activities at several public universities have been thrown into disarray due to unrest over different issues, including allegations of the vice-chancellors’ involvement in irregularities and corruption.

Uncertainty looms over invigilation during the coming Primary Education Completion Examination as a meeting between protesting teachers and ministry officials failed to resolve the stalemate.