Dhaka University unit Chhatra League activists beat a student when Jagannath University students on Sunday took to streets in front of the Supreme Court building in protest at the government’s funding rules for the university. — New Age photo Bdnews24.com . Dhaka
The police have charged with batons to disperse hundreds of students of Jagannath University blocking streets near the High Court to demand scrapping of a funding rule that has angered them.
The police action on Sunday came after they continued to ignore repeated calls by the authorities to free the roads.
Nearly after two hours of protests, the police made its final move around 2:00pm to disperse them.
They, however, smashed at least a dozen vehicles, prompting police to arrest not less than six students from the scene.
Dhaka city police deputy commissioner Krishnapada Roy said that they had no other options but to go for action as the students ignored their repeated calls.
‘We asked them a number of times to leave the streets and go back to their campus and demonstrate peacefully. But when they started vandalising vehicles and the police had to act,’ he told reporters.
The students said they wanted immediate withdrawal of a clause of the university act that says the institution is ineligible for any government funding.
Earlier, JnU vice-chancellor professor Mesbah Uddin Ahmad visited the demonstrating students around 1:30pm and urged them to free the streets. But the students refused.
The students earlier demonstrated on the university premises before they marched through streets to reach the High Court area around 11:30am.
During hours of protests, the students took position on the streets encircling the roundabout between the National Press Club and the High Court and chanted slogans urging withdrawal of the clause.
The protests broke out after they came to learn from a newspaper report that the Jagannath University Act-2005 has provisioned that the university will have to manage fund on its own.
The protest during busy hours paralysed the area as traffic movement had come to a halt.
Jagannath University’s proctor Ashok Kumar Saha said: ‘Article 27 (4) of the Jagannath University Act- 2005 says that the university authority will have to earn the costs of running the university themselves.’
‘We are holding talks with the government to repeal this clause as its implementation would hike tuition fees and there shall be a very little difference of Jagannath University with other private initiatives,’ he added.
The students claimed that their semester fees had to be increased from Tk 3,500 to Tk 20,000 to increase the revenue of the university.
Demands of the students also included recovery of university dormitories, setting up library, and increasing transport facilities.
The students smashed a number of vehicles in front of the university area earlier.
Activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League’s Jagannath University unit allegedly joined police to beat and disperse angry students who blocked traffic on the street in front of the National Press Club.
A group of 10 to 12 BCL activists were seen beating the demonstrators and they obstructed press corps who tried to photograph them beating a demonstrator in front of the Shikkha Bhaban.
The BCL activists had been with the demonstrators at the beginning but became angry when the students slammed them over their request to demonstrate by leaving the street.
BCL Jagannath University unit convener Saiful Islam Akhand, however, denied the allegation. ‘Those who had beaten the demonstrators do not belong to Chhatra League,’ he told the news agency.
The education minister said the decision about funding Jagannath University would be taken after consulting all the stakeholders, hours after its students blocked streets and vandalised vehicles demanding repeal of the self-financing provision.
But Nurul Islam Nahid criticised their vandalising vehicles.
The minister told journalists at the secretariat, ‘I have spoken to the university’s vice-chancellor and the members of the University Grants Commission. We will find a way to solve this problem through discussions with everyone.’
He also pointed out that the relevant law will have to be amended to address this issue but could not specify how long it will take.
When asked whether the law will be amended, the minister said, ‘I cannot say whether it will be amended unless a decision is taken after talks.’
‘We are not dismissing their reasons…with education costs rising, students have a right to be worried,’ the minister said.
But, vandalism cannot be the answer, Nahid said, ‘Creating such disorder by destroying the people’s property taints the image of students.’
Urging the universities to increase their internal revenue, Nahid said, ‘It is not possible to develop everything with funds from the government.’
He added that the students should also help the universities increase earnings.
More on Dhaka Map | Source: newagebd.com
No comments:
Post a Comment