New Delhi, July 4: Dressed in immaculate suits and ties or flowing saris, 165 teenage boys and girls graduating from Dhaka's elite Scholastica school had posed for yearbook photographs on June 22 in a courtyard on the institution's compound.

They had studied in well-lit, air-conditioned classrooms, read books from a school library that boasts works by Shakespeare and Plato, and participated in inter-school debates, basketball meets and football tourneys.

They were set to join an illustrious group of alumni that includes the Bangladesh Prime Minister's niece.

But that day, as the students prepared to bid goodbye to their school, they were missing a classmate for the photo session. Meer Saameh Mubasher had disappeared at least five months earlier and had not taken his school-leaving examinations.

Ten days after the photo shoot, Mubasher would reappear -- as one of the six terrorists who murdered 20 people at a restaurant in Dhaka's diplomatic quarter on Friday night and early Saturday morning.

Another of the terrorists was Rohan Imtiaz, a senior from the same school whose mother teaches mathematics there. A third terrorist, Nibras Islam, also went to elite, private universities in Dhaka and Kuala Lumpur.

Dhaka's terror nightmare has engulfed some well-known educational institutions, forcing upon schools like Scholastica the shocking reality that their alumni would now also include some of the country's most infamous names.

Joining the list is Monash University's Malaysian campus, where Nibras studied before returning to Dhaka.

Maher Murshed, chairperson of Scholastica, told The Telegraph he was travelling and could only speak on Tuesday. The spokesperson for Monash in Kuala Lumpur did not respond to emails sent by this newspaper.

That these young men took to terrorism despite their exposure to a liberal and modern education points to a challenge for Bangladesh's society as a whole more than for these institutions, alumni and the parents of current students insisted.

"Let's be clear, these guys chose this path despite their education, not because of it in any way," Adil Hossain, a Scholastica alumnus, said from Dhaka. "There's absolutely no connection between their acts and their education."

Scholastica follows the University of Cambridge's international examinations system, with "O" levels and "A" levels as school-leaving tests. This system allows students to integrate with international university curricula more easily than with Bangladesh's local school boards.

The school, with annual fees upwards of 65,000 Bangladeshi takas - roughly equal to the country's per capita Gross Domestic Product - is accessible only to Dhaka's elite.

Bangladeshi newspapers and social media users have identified Imtiaz, the Scholastica senior turned terrorist, as the son of a local leader of the ruling Awami League.

Scholastica's pupils travel between home and school in air-conditioned buses that shield them from Dhaka's sticky weather and pollution. Many of them later sign up for undergraduate courses in America, Britain or other foreign countries.

But many do return, joining different streams of life in Bangladesh. Wasfia Nazreen, the first Bangladeshi woman and the first Bengali to climb the "seven summits" - the highest peaks on each of the seven continents -studied at Scholastica.

Shazia Omar, one of Bangladesh's best-known English fiction writers, calls the school that started in 1977 her alma mater.

Some alumni, like Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's niece Tulip Siddiq - a British MP - have stayed in touch with the school. Siddiq was chief guest at a Scholastica event seven months ago.

The school tries to make its students appreciate their circumstances.

"A large majority of you, I can imagine, are hoping to go to another country after your 'A' levels. And you should, if you have the opportunity," a Bangladeshi editor, Toufique Imrose Khalidi, had told the graduating class in June as a commencement speaker.

He reminded them to return to their homeland. "The fortunate have the extra burden to be brave when circumstances demand. They are in a better position to serve, to lead by example, to sacrifice when necessary."

Syeda Mahida Murshed, managing director of the school, reminded the students at the ceremony that they had the "luxury of choice" many in Bangladesh and around the world did not.

"How will you utilise this luxury?" she asked them.

The Kuala Lumpur campus of Monash University, where Nibras studied, has built a formidable academic reputation since 1998. It was inaugurated by the then deputy Prime Minister --- and current Premier --- of Malaysia, Najib Razak, as the first foreign campus in the country.

Studying there isn't cheap. Each year of an undergraduate course in business costs Australian $10,400 -- about Rs 5.27 lakh.

But it routinely registers an "excellent" rating in the quality reviews conducted by Malaysia's government.

"Quite frankly, I'm just shocked," Ronald Lu, who studied business administration at the Malaysian campus of Monash, told this newspaper from Hong Kong, where he is based.

"It's a global environment, and I can't imagine what flicked the switch in his (Nibras's) head."

The terrorists shared their affluent, elite educational backgrounds with some of their victims, Lu pointed out.

"You have two sets of diametrically opposite people with very similar educational backgrounds," he said. "To me, that says their education had nothing to do with it."

Ultimately, the years of excellence that schools like Scholastica boast will ride out any short-term connection people might draw between the institution and two of the Dhaka terrorists, Adil, the school alumnus, said.

On Sunday night, a parent posted a message of solidarity with Scholastica on the school's Facebook page.

"(It is) my son's school, and we are very happy with his progress," Mohibul Amanul wrote. "Teaching method is excellent."

The post quickly received a "like" -- a vote of agreement. It was from Mahida Murshed, the school managing director.