How confusion spread over excluding 6 subjects, including Bangla, from undergraduate studies
A claim circulating on multiple social media platforms states that Honours courses in 6 subjects, including Bangla, History, and Philosophy, are being cancelled. However, Education Minister ANM Ehsanul Hoque Milon has said that no such decision has been taken to cancel these subjects at the undergraduate level under the National University.
On June 9, posts from multiple (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) personal profiles, pages, and groups on the social media platform Facebook stated, “Honours courses in Bangla, History, and Philosophy are being cancelled.” Additionally, the claim was posted in multiple groups (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) related to job and university admission preparation. Expressing concern, a post in one group stated, “Honours courses in Bangla, History, and Philosophy are being cancelled! How do you view this matter? And what will happen to those who have been newly admitted to these departments (2025-26 session)?”
Posts on this matter were also seen from a political perspective. Multiple (1, 2, 3, 4) posts were observed on Facebook and Instagram with the claim, “Bangla subject is being cancelled in Honours to cripple the Bengali nation just like the Pakistani ruling class.”
While verifying the source of this claim, it was found that reports published by multiple media outlets stating that Honours courses in Bangla, History, and Philosophy are being cancelled played a role in spreading such claims on social media. On June 9, Dainik Ittefaq published a report titled, “Honours courses in Bangla, History, and Philosophy are being cancelled.”
In the report, it was written, “The government has taken an initiative to reform the education structure to make higher education in the country career-oriented. According to the Ministry of Education’s new draft model, Honours courses in about six subjects, including Bangla, History, and Philosophy, are being cancelled. These subjects will be coordinated with other subjects.” Citing a top official of the Ministry of Education, it stated, “A top official of the Ministry of Education confirmed these details to Ittefaq yesterday and said that discussions are still ongoing regarding the matter. A final decision will be made by taking everyone’s opinion.”
In the report by Kaler Kantho, it was written, “According to the new draft model of the Ministry of Education, Honours courses in around 6 subjects, including Bangla, History, and Philosophy, are being cancelled. These subjects will be coordinated with other subjects.”
In a report by Desh Rupantor under the headline “Honours courses in Bangla, History, and Philosophy are being cancelled,” it was stated, “In a draft model of the Ministry of Education to make the country’s higher education career-oriented and skill-based, plans are being made to cancel or transform Honours courses of around six subjects, including Bangla, History, and Philosophy. However, the Ministry of Education has stated that the matter is still at a very preliminary stage of discussion and a final decision will be taken after taking the opinions of relevant stakeholders.”
Echoing the same, the report by the TV medium RTV wrote, “The government has taken major reform initiatives to make the country’s higher education system more career-oriented and skill-based. Multiple media outlets have reported that according to the new draft model of the Ministry of Education, plans are being made to restructure or cancel Honours courses in around six subjects, including Bangla, History, and Philosophy, and coordinate them with other subjects.”
Additionally, multiple media outlets (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) published reports with the same statement.
As confusion spread on social media regarding the news of course cancellations, Abdul Khaleque, secretary of the Secondary and Higher Education Division of the Ministry of Education, told the media that no such decision has been taken. The secretary told The Daily Campus, “No decision has been taken to remove Bangla, History, and Philosophy subjects from the Honours (undergraduate honours) level. However, an official of the ministry had initially discussed it in a meeting. That cannot be called a final decision.”
Meanwhile, the Vice-Chancellor of the National University, Professor ASM Amanullah, told The Daily Campus, “There is no decision from either the government or from us regarding the closure of any Honours course of the National University. This is completely baseless news.”
Furthermore, comments of the Prime Minister’s Information and Broadcasting Adviser Dr Zahed Ur Rahman on this matter were seen in the same report: “News has been published in the media that Honours courses in around 6 subjects, including Bangla, History, and Philosophy, might be cancelled. I have seen this news. I am advising (everyone) not to give importance to the matter until an official announcement is made by the government.” The prime minister’s adviser said, “I do not think the statement that there will be no honours in these subjects is true. However, discussions can take place regarding how many places we will keep it, and in how many universities it will remain.”
The education minister clarified his position regarding this. The Business Standard reported that in response to questions from journalists at the Secretariat today, June 9, the minister said, “There has been no discussion that Bangla, Philosophy, and History will be dropped; we have not heard it anywhere, nor have we conducted it anywhere. Bangla is our mother tongue—can it be dropped? No such discussion has taken place, not to my knowledge. I do not know where this news came from.” He further added, “We are giving importance to technical-ICT. We are looking at subjects that have demand in the market, that is being discussed constantly. But we have not heard this discussion anywhere that Bangla, Philosophy, and History will be dropped.”
Following these statements from the Ministry of Education and the Education Minister, multiple (1, 2, 3, 4) media outlets published reports declaring the news of the courses being cancelled as baseless. A report published in Jugantor stated, “The Ministry of Education has termed the claim circulating on social media that Bangla, History, and Philosophy subjects are being removed from Honours courses as completely ‘baseless’.” The report further added, “On June 9, the education minister’s personal official Nurul Afsar Dipu confirmed this information to the media. He said that neither the Ministry of Education nor any relevant authority has taken any decision so far regarding the cancellation of the departments or subjects of Bangla, History, and Philosophy. The information being propagated on social media regarding this is not correct.”
That is to say, no decision has been taken by the Ministry of Education to exclude six subjects, including Bangla, History, and Philosophy, from Honours.
