United News of Bangladesh

A delegation from Japan recently visited Sydney International School (SIS) and discussed educational development, international collaboration, and future expansion initiatives. The chairman and directors of the school welcomed the guests with flower bouquets and a school-branded crest, said a press release. During the visit, SIS Chairman Mynul Mridha briefed the delegation on the institution’s academic philosophy, growth, and long-term vision. He said the school is committed to providing quality international education and outlined plans to establish a new campus in Uttara to expand access to modern learning facilities. The visiting team included Motoyuki Odachi, chief operating officer of Cipher Core Co Ltd and former vice minister of finance of Japan; Apple Mahmud, chairman of Apple Corporation Ltd (Japan); Takatoshi Nakamura; Md Mehedul Islam; and architect Ahmed Imtiaz Khan, partner at 4 Walls Inside Outside. Both sides exchanged views on educational infrastructure, international best practices, and the potential for collaboration in developing future-ready campuses. Participants expressed optimism about strengthening education-focused partnerships between Bangladesh and Japan. SIS officials said such international engagements help broaden students’ global perspectives and support sustainable institutional growth.

The Jagannath University administration has asked general students to vacate the campus by 3:30pm on Monday for the university’s Central Students’ Union (JnUCSU) and Hall Students’ Union elections. The directive was issued through an emergency notice signed by the university’s Acting Registrar Professor Dr Md Sheikh Gias Uddin. According to the notice, to ensure the smooth conduct of the polls maintain discipline on campus and ensure overall security, all students have been instructed to leave the campus by 3:30pm on December 29, it said. Voting in the JnUCSU and Hall Students’ Union elections is scheduled to be held on Tuesday.

The Ministry of Education on Sunday published the holiday list and academic calendar for government and non-government secondary and junior secondary schools for the 2026 academic year, showing a reduction in the number of holidays. According to the calendar, educational institutions will remain closed for 64 days in 2026, which is 12 days fewer than the previous year. In 2025, the total number of holidays was 76. The notification, signed by Sabina Yasmin, Deputy Secretary of the Secondary and Higher Education Division, was issued on Sunday. The gazette states that schools will remain open for nearly half of the holy month of Ramadan in 2026. Major holidays include 19 days off from March 8 to March 26 on the occasions of the holy month of Ramadan, Sri Sri Harichand Thakur’s advent, Shab-e-Qadr, Jumatul Bida, Eid-ul-Fitr, and Independence and National Day. Institutions will observe 12 days of closure from May 24 to June 4 for Eid-ul-Azha and summer vacation, five days from October 18 to 22 for Durga Puja, and 10 days from December 20 to 29 for winter vacation and Christmas. According to the schedule, half-yearly or pre-test examinations will be held between June 26 and July 10, with results to be published on July 29. Test examinations will take place from October 29 to November 10, with results on November 18. Annual examinations are scheduled to conclude between November 19 and December 6, with results to be published on December 30. The Junior Scholarship Examination will be held from December 15 to 20, and results will also be published on December 30. The academic year will run from January 1 to December 31, the notification added.

More than 75,000 students have applied online to sit for the first-year, first-semester undergraduate admission tests of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) for the 2025–26 academic session. Member Secretary of the Admission Committee Prof Dr Mohammad Selim confirmed that a total of 75,023 applicants submitted their applications before the deadline, which ended at 11:59 pm on Thursday (Dec 26). The applications were received for A, B and A2 (sub-unit for Architecture) units. According to the admission committee, the entrance examination for Unit A will be held on January 13, while the test for Unit B is scheduled for January 14. The examinations will take place at designated centres in Sylhet and the capital, Dhaka. SUST launches bus tracking system for students As per the admission guidelines, merit lists will be prepared out of a total of 100 marks. The score will be calculated based on the marks obtained in the admission test (out of 80). For HSC 2025 candidates, the combined GPA of SSC and HSC examinations will be multiplied by two, while for HSC 2024 candidates, the combined GPA will be multiplied by 1.6. This year, SUST will admit students to a total of 1,566 seats—985 seats under Unit A and 581 seats under Unit B. In addition, 77 seats have been reserved under five quota categories, including ethnic merit (28), disability merit (14), tea-labour merit (5), sports merit (10) and SUST community merit (20).    

Just one day before the end of campaigning for the Jagannath University Central Students’ Union (JnUCSU) election, allegations have surfaced that 40,000 leaflets of the leftist “Maulana Bhasani Brigade” panel were stolen. The panel leaders made the allegation at a press conference held at 3:30 pm on Friday (26 December). Amrin Jahan Opi, the panel’s candidate for Social Welfare and Student Affairs Secretary, said, “Yesterday at noon, 40,000 campaign leaflets of our 21 candidates went missing. At that time, we did not receive any satisfactory response from the university administration. Later, we came to know that the leaflets were taken away by cleaning staff in the name of cleaning.” GS candidate Ivan Tahseeb said, “Yesterday, our 40,000 leaflets were stolen from in front of the staircase of the Abakash Building. Although we managed to recover a portion of them, the campaign materials of several candidates are still missing. We demand compensation for this incident and call for punishment of those involved, following a proper investigation.” VP candidate Gourab Bhowmik said, “The cleaning staff who took our leaflets are claiming that since the campaign period was over, they sold them. However, we have seen that no leaflets of any other panel were stolen. We demand the administration to take appropriate action.” Demand for Manual Voting: At the press conference, the Maulana Bhasani Brigade also demanded that voting be conducted through a manual system. In this regard, the panel’s AGS candidate Shamsul Alam Maruf said, “In previous student union elections, we have seen allegations of election manufacturing. Moreover, the Election Commission has failed to provide any clear explanation on how the machine would read ballots if voters mark the cross symbol more than once. Therefore, we demand that voting be held through a manual system.”

Jahangirnagar University has published the admission test results of the D unit under the Faculty of Biological Sciences for first-year undergraduate Honours students of the 55th batch. The overall pass rate stands at 39.10 percent. The results were published on Thursday night on the university’s admission test website. University sources said a total of 22,671 candidates passed the D unit test. Of them, 8,237 were male students and 14,434 were female students. Dean of the Faculty of Biological Sciences Professor Mohammad Mafruhi Sattar said female participation in the D unit admission test was comparatively higher. He said 33,491 female candidates appeared in the test, of whom 14,434 passed, making the female pass rate 43.10 percent. On the other hand, 8,237 out of 24,491 male candidates passed, with a pass rate of 33.63 percent. According to the admission office, the total number of seats in the D unit under the Faculty of Biological Sciences is 310. Of these, 155 seats are reserved for male students and the same number for female students. A total of 70,221 candidates appeared in the D unit admission test. University authorities said detailed information and results related to the admission test are available on the university’s admission website ju-admission.org. The admission tests for first-year undergraduate Honours programmes at Jahangirnagar University for the 2025–26 academic year began on December 21 and will continue until December 29.

Ahead of the Jagannath University Central Students’ Union (JnUCSU) and hall union elections, the Jagannath University Chhatra Dal and Chhatra Odhikar supported panel “Oikyoboddho Nirbheek Jobiyan” has announced a 13-point manifesto, prioritizing the assurance of hygienic food and the resolution of the accommodation crisis. The manifesto was unveiled at a press conference held at around 3:00 pm on Tuesday (December 23) in front of the Language Martyr Rafiq Building on campus. The panel’s Vice President (VP) candidate, AKM Rakib, read out the manifesto, while other candidates of the panel presented its various points sequentially. The 13-point manifesto of the Chhatra Dal and Chhatra Odhikar backed panel includes: ensuring a democratic and secure campus; short-term and long-term solutions to the accommodation crisis; renovation, expansion, modernization of the main campus infrastructure and the speedy completion of the second campus construction; improvement and expansion of transportation and commuting facilities; ensuring hygienic and nutritious food; guaranteeing quality healthcare services and health insurance; enhancing the quality of education and research; ensuring harassment-free and faster administrative services; job creation, career development, and strengthening professional networking; expansion of sports and cultural activities; protection of women students’ rights; waste management, environmental protection, and greenery development; and special initiatives for financially disadvantaged and students with special needs. JnUCSU Election: Ballot numbers of candidates published Additionally, at the press conference, three independent VP candidates announced their withdrawal from the election in support of AKM Rakib. They are Chandan Kumar Das, Rakib Hasan, and Mashruf Ahmed. Speaking at the event, they stated that there is no place for disunity in the struggle to protect the rights of Jobiyan students. Therefore, in the greater interest and with the aim of presenting strong leadership, they decided to withdraw their candidacies. They also announced their full support for Rakib, the VP candidate of the “Oikyoboddho Nirbheek Jobiyan” panel. Other candidates of the “Oikyoboddho Nirbheek Jobiyan” panel were also present at the press conference.  

Jahangirnagar University (JU) has published the results of the 2025–2026 academic year undergraduate (honours) first-year admission tests for the ‘B’, ‘C’, and ‘E’ units, on Tuesday afternoon. The results were released through a notice on the university’s official website. According to the notice, the results have been prepared based on a shift-wise merit list. Following previous years’ practice, admissions and migration processes will be conducted according to shift-based merit rankings derived from the published results, it said . The university administration also stated that detailed information regarding the admission tests and results can be accessed on JU’s admission portal at ‘ju-admission.org’. The 2025–2026 first-year undergraduate admission tests at JU began on December 21 and will continue until December 29.

Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) Vice-President Abu Shadik Kayem has declined government-provided gunman support, saying security should be ensured for all citizens, not just a few individuals. In a Facebook post on Monday night, Kayem said the government had recently decided to provide gunmen to student leaders of the July uprising, leaders of various political parties and media personalities. He said he was informed about the decision but chose not to accept the offer for himself. Following the fall of the Hasina government, Kayem said people expected visible and fair changes in the country’s overall security system. However, he claimed that public security continues to be disrupted due to the ineffective role of law enforcement agencies and the direct or indirect support of what he termed fascist forces within various institutions. He said if law enforcement agencies were effectively activated and criminals brought to justice, public concern over security would not be so acute. Referring to recent incidents, Kayem said that while top criminals are released on bail and roam freely, leaders such as Osman Hadi have been killed and the perpetrators remain at large. “At the same time, there are proposals to provide gunmen for personal security. I am reluctant to accept this reality,” he wrote. Kayem acknowledged that security is necessary for everyone but stressed that it should not be limited to select individuals or groups. “Our demand is to build a safe and just Bangladesh for all,” he said. Bangladesh provides gunmen for 20 individuals on hit lists He added that as long as students and the general public remain unsafe, he does not consider it appropriate to accept gunman support solely for personal protection. Earlier today, Home Affairs Adviser Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said the interim government of Bangladesh has assigned gunmen to 20 individuals who were on alleged hit lists doing the rounds and facing security risks. “Those who are on hit lists or concerned about their security have already been given gunmen,” he told reporters after a meeting on the law and order situation at the secretariat.  

Dhaka University (DU) has confirmed that none of its buildings are structurally at risk and regular academic activities will resume from December 28. “Considering students’ safety and mental well-being after the recent earthquakes, we quickly formed an expert committee. The committee’s report did not identify any major structural risks anywhere,” said Prof Dr. M. Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, yreasurer of the university and Chairman of the post-earthquake monitoring committee, on Monday. He provided an update on renovation and repair works at a press briefing in the university’s Professor Abdul Matin Virtual Classroom. He said that after completing all necessary technical inspections the buildings have been deemed safe for students and renovation work is ongoing in a few buildings. Earlier, all academic activities were suspended on November 22 to inspect and repair vulnerable buildings and students were asked to vacate their halls. The winter vacation was subsequently scheduled from December 6 to December 28.