Students in Bangladesh kicked out the country’s leader a month ago. What is the situation now?

Here’s how things stand now, a month after the country was rocked by the worst bloodshed in decades:

What is the focus of the interim government?

After being sworn in, Yunus said his main tasks would be to restore peace, public order, fight corruption and prepare for new elections.

His cabinet, which includes two student leaders who led the protests, has focused on overhauling and reforming Bangladesh’s institutions, from the courts and police to the Election Commission. To do so, the government is also seeking support from the United Nations Development Program.

Reforms have been a key priority as demonstrations against Hasina quickly turned into anger against her increasingly autocratic rule. Her government has jailed opposition members, clamped down on independent media and restricted civil society.

Protesters also accused Hasina’s Awami League of corruption and said public institutions, including the Election Commission, had eroded under her 15-year rule.

Yunus needs time.

The 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, who pioneered microcredit to help poor people, especially women, appealed for patience in an address to the nation. He said his cabinet was working hard to stem the violence and lawlessness that have emerged since Hasina’s ouster.

“I ask everyone to be patient,” he said. “One of our goals is to regain public trust in public institutions.”

What is the mood in Bangladesh?

The unrest continues. Garment workers demanding higher wages have forced about 100 factories to close, and tensions are rising, with anger against Hasina and her Awami League still widespread.

Hasina, currently in self-imposed exile, faces more than 100 murder charges. Key officials believed to be close to her have resigned following mass protests.

Scores of cases have also been registered against people associated with Hasina, her party or government — from former ministers and judges to journalists and even a prominent cricketer — who have been attacked, barred from leaving the country and even imprisoned. Rights groups have also condemned the blanket accusations.

Most of these cases have weak legal foundations and political motivations, said Zillur Rahman, executive director of the Center for Governance Studies, a Dhaka-based think tank.

This form of “lynching” has raised fears that “the system that Hasina introduced is still alive, only the victims have changed,” Rahman said.

What about students?

A week after Hasina was ousted from power, the students who threw her out directed traffic in the capital, Dhaka.

Some schools and universities have reopened, including the University of Dhaka, which became the epicenter of the anti-Hasina protests. But the situation is not yet back to normal.

Many principals of educational institutions have been forced to resign, and in some cases, although classes have formally resumed, few students attend them.

Despite this, many students remain optimistic about the interim government’s ability to introduce real change.

Sneha Akter, a student at the University of Dhaka, believes the first step is to remove those who were previously in power.

“By replacing them, we are correcting past mistakes,” she said. “You can’t change the whole country in one month. … We have to give the government some time.”

There are those who say Yunus’ caretaker government should remain in power until significant reforms are introduced, “whether it takes three months, three years or even six years,” said Hafizur Rahman, another student at the University of Dhaka.

What’s next?

There’s a sense that normalcy is slowly returning—the streets of Dhaka are no longer a battleground between security forces and students. The internet is back, and the nationwide shoot-on-site curfew has been lifted.

With much of the violence having subsided, there is hope for a new chapter. Shops, banks, hotels and restaurants are open, and police — who had been on strike out of concern for their own safety — have returned to work.

But morale is low. Officers are less visible on the streets and apparently reluctant to deal with the unrest because their crackdown on students remains fresh in the memories of many Bangladeshis.

During the uprising, dozens of policemen were killed and their stations were set on fire and looted.

Another challenge is rebuilding the economy, which has been disrupted by a weeks-long lockdown caused by the uprising that has sent food and commodity prices soaring.

The most important question is: When will new elections be held?

Some experts say the caretaker government has no mandate for major reforms and should focus on building consensus among political parties on reforms — and scheduling elections.

Hasina’s Awami League has so far remained in the shadows.

Yunus is banking on the support he enjoys among young people in the country, but Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center, says that support may have an expiration date.

“If security continues to be an issue and economic recovery is slow … young people could become impatient and restless,” Kugelman said.

Hasina’s main opposition — the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, or BNP — is seen as the party most likely to win the election and has been pushing for the elections to be held as soon as possible.

“That raises a worrying question: What happens if the BNP, which has no formal role in the caretaker government, doesn’t hold the elections it wants?” Kugelman said. “Will it start a movement? Will it cause unrest?”

“This could create new threats to public order and deepen political uncertainty and volatility,” he said.