Engineering university students announce ‘complete shutdown’ of campuses, exam boycott at BUET
Students have been observing “complete shutdown” at all the engineering universities across the country to press home their three-point demand.
Nasimul Islam, a fourth year student at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), said on Thursday, “Thursday is our weekly holiday. But our exams take place everyday except Friday. We have boycotted our exams for today. And, our shutdown programme is ongoing.”
Engineers Rights Movement, a platform of the protesting engineering students, announced the “complete shutdown” programme from a media conference on Wednesday night.
All the engineering universities, including the BUET, were to observe the shutdown. However, Thursday is the weekly holiday at BUET.
Visiting several departments at BUET around 10:00 am today, Thursday, no students were seen on campus.
Civil Engineering department building’s security Golzar Hossain told Prothom Alo, “Today is a weekly holiday at BUET. No one will come today.”
Security guards of several other departments said that the employees and officials of those departments had arrived on campus.
Masud Rana, a security guard at BUET’s Mechanical Engineering building, said the shutdown had already been in force since yesterday, Wednesday.
The BUET students, who had been staging a sit-in at Shahbagh since Tuesday afternoon with three-point demands, intensified their programme Wednesday. Around 11:00 am yesterday, as part of their pre-announced schedule, they blocked the Shahbagh intersection.
At about 1:30 pm, the students began marching towards the Chief Adviser’s official residence, Jamuna. Police intercepted them near the InterContinental Hotel, firing sound grenades, tear gas shells, water cannons and baton charges to disperse the demonstrators. Many students were injured in the clashes.
Following the police action, the protesters regrouped at Shahbagh around 5:30 pm and continued their demonstration until dispersing at about 10:30 pm.
Later at night, during a press briefing at Shahbagh, Wali Ullah, president of the Engineering Rights Movement, announced that a meeting would be held at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh (IEB), at 5:00 pm Thursday and will declare the next phase of the movement.
At that time, Jubayer Ahmed, a fourth-year BUET student, proclaimed a “Complete Shutdown of Engineering University” across the country.
The students’ three-point demand includes: recruitment for 9th-grade assistant engineer posts must be solely through examinations, with the minimum qualification set at a BSc in engineering; for 10th-grade posts, currently reserved only for diploma holders, higher degree holders must also be allowed to apply; and, only those who have completed a BSc in Engineering should be legally recognised as “engineers” and allowed to use the title.
In response to the agitation, the government on Wednesday formed a committee tasked with reviewing the professional claims of BSc graduates and diploma holders in the engineering field and recommending a way forward.