Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina rejects quota call for English-medium students

Dhaka: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has rejected a call for special facilities for English-medium students to enrol at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), it was reported on Thursday.

In a Parliament session on Wednesday, opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) MP Harunur Rashid asked her whether the government would take steps to stop the "brain drain, especially top students of the English-medium institutions" from going abroad, reports bdnews24.

"Will you take steps to resolve the problem over huge unemployment by giving opportunities (to the unemployed), especially to the meritorious students?" he asked while demanding quota for students of English-medium schools for admission to BUET citing a court directive.

In response, Hasina said: "It appears from the honourable MP's speech that those studying in English-medium institutions are meritorious and those in Bangla-medium aren't. We studied fully in Bangla medium. We may be not meritorious, but it's not that we have done badly. I could have achieved good results if I got more opportunities to study well.

"Why should there be quotas for those from English-medium institutions? I don't see any reason to go for this." She also said her government has created "enough" job opportunities for those studying abroad.