BUET teachers think of alternative movement

Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology teachers, on strike for 22nd consecutive days on Sunday, told New Age that they would not call off their protests seeking resignation of the vice-chancellor and the pro-vice-chancellor although they knew that students were suffering as no classes were being held. ‘The students will not face trouble as we can take make-up classes at the weekends or during holidays,’ The BUET Teachers’ Association general secretary, Md Ashraful Islam, said. He said, ‘We expect that the prime minister will meet our demands so that the students do not suffer.’ The striking teachers are discussing the campus situation with higher authorities. A number of teachers also said that they were thinking of ‘an alternative movement’ against the corruption in the university administration in view of sufferings of the students. But they would not call off their protests pushing for the resignation of the vice-chancellor SM Nazrul Islam and the pro-vice-chancellor Md Habibur Rahman because of their ‘involvement in corruption,’ the teachers said. ‘We have not yet decided our next course of action but have thought of an alternative way to push four our demands,’ one of the striking teachers said. He talked of the silent procession they held on the campus on Saturday as a way of protests. Asked about the sufferings of the students, the teachers said that the students were not suffering so much as their strike coincided with the general strike the opposition alliance was enforcing and because of public holidays. The vice-chancellor, meanwhile, told New Age that the teachers had alleged irregularities in administration. ‘But why should the students suffer?’ Asked about the allegations levelled against them the vice-chancellor said that the allegations were ‘illogical and baseless.’ ‘I have not committed any mistake. My resignation will, rather, be a mistake,’’ he added. 

Source: New Age

Students join striking teachers at Jahangirnagar University

Several hundred Jahangirnagar University students joined the movement of teachers who laid siege to the the vice-chancellor’s house for the fourth consecutive day on Sunday demanding his resignation. They rallied on the campus in protest at Saturday’s attack on the campus-based cultural activists and teachers by Chhatra League activists and burnt the vice-chancellor Shariff Enamul Kabir in effigy. The striking teachers, mostly belonging to opposition and left-leaning political parties, on Sunday vowed to continue with their sit-in until the vice-chancellor resigned. They were demanding the resignation of the vice-chancellor for his alleged corruption, recruitment of teachers on political grounds and patronisation of Chhatra League activists. The vice-chancellor, however, on Sunday told reporters that he would not step down. ‘There is no reason for me to resign.’ BCL activists backed by the vice-chancellor also brought out a procession on the campus. Sources said the BCL leaders forced general students to join the procession. Mehedi Hasan, a resident of Shaheed Salam Barkat Hall, said that Chhatra League activists had called general students to the common room of the hall and forced the students to join the procession. Activists of the Awami League-backed Chhatra League on Saturday night attacked the striking teachers and cultural activists. The teachers and students demanded exemplary punishment of the people who attacked them. Sangskritik Jote activists said that the police refused to record any case against Chhatra League activists who attacked on the cultural activists on Saturday in which at least 15 were injured. The Ashulia police officer-in-charge, Badrul Alam, said that some students had gone to the police station to file a case but the police did not record the case as the documents lacked some bits of information. The police recorded a general diary instead. The university authorities set up a three-member committee, headed by Pritilata Hall provost Lutfar Rahman, to investigate the attack, the registrar, Abu Bakar Siddique, said. The other two on the committee Ahmed Reza and deputy registrar Mohammad Ali. The committee has been asked to submit the report in seven working days. Cultural activists alleged that they had not stayed in the halls since Saturday night. ‘We have been forced to stay out of the halls in fear of attacks by Chhatra League activists as we are protesting at their activities that have led to the current campus situation,’ cultural activists Rahul Anzum said. Chhatra League activists, however, brushed aside the allegations and said that they had not asked anyone to leave the halls. The acting proctor Sukalyan Kumar Kundu assured the cultural activists of security in halls after discussing the matter with the provosts and Chhatra League activists. Police deployment on the campus has been reinforced to head off any trouble, the Ashulia police said. 

Source: New Age