Education minister slaps down report of honours cuts in Bangla, philosophy, history

He says discussions focus on market demand and curriculum updates, not scrapping disciplines

Education Minister ANM Ehsanul Hoque Milon has dismissed reports that the government plans to scrap honours courses in several subjects, calling the claims “baseless”.

At the Secretariat on Tuesday, he said no such discussions had taken place, questioning how Bangla -- the mother tongue -- could ever be dropped.

He said he had no idea where the story had come from.

A report published in Daily Ittefaq claimed honours courses in six subjects including Bangla, philosophy, and history were being discontinued.

The minister flatly rejected the claim.

“We are stressing the importance of technical education. We are modernising the system. We are reviewing subjects based on market demand. These discussions are ongoing,” he said, adding that no proposal has been made to remove core disciplines like Bangla, philosophy or history.

Milon also said the Ministry of Education has no plan either to reduce honours programmes or to discontinue courses in specific disciplines.

Earlier in the day, National University Bangladesh issued a statement saying there has been no decision from the government or university authorities on discontinuing any honours course.