Staff Reporter:
The agitating students of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) have announced that they will continue their ongoing complete shutdown programme at all public and private engineering universities in the country.
“It will remain ongoing under the banner of the Engineers’ Rights Movement until further notice,” Wali Ullah, president of the platform, said while addressing a press conference held at the Institute of Engineers, Bangladesh, in Dhaka on Thursday.
Elaborating on the ongoing movement and their demands, Wali Ullah announced that they will hold a divisional council within the current week, while the national council will be held in Dhaka in the next week to meet the demand.
He said their movement is based on three demands of withdrawal of the 33 percent promotion quota, opening technical grades to higher-qualified candidates and ensuring that no one without a B.Sc. degree can use the title of engineer.
“Law enforcers carried out a massive attack on us when we were carrying out our peaceful programme yesterday. The attackers must be punished. We will go for a tougher movement if our demand is ignored,” he said.
Although the authorities pledged yesterday to resolve the crisis, the commitment has not yet been implemented, said Wali Ullah.
Taking part in the press conference, Engineer Mahmudur Rahman Shaheed, adviser of the platform, said that the Bangladesh National Qualifications Framework (BNQF) determines the standard of educational qualifications, a system that is followed worldwide.
Diploma holders cannot attain the qualifications of a B.Sc. simply through job experience. In other words, there is no provision to move from Level 6 (Diploma) to Level 7 (B.Sc., which is mandatory for the ninth grade) based solely on experience, he added.
He also criticised the advisers of the interim government for not taking any action against those who carried out attacks on the agitating students.
As part of the pre-announced Long March to Dhaka, the students took position at Shahbagh intersection around 11 am on Wednesday and later they started marching towards Jamuna, the official residence of Chief Adviser Prof Mohammad Yunus, to press home their demand.
As they reached the hotel InterContinental intersection around 1:30 pm, police suddenly swooped on them and fired tear gas shells, sound grenades and resorted to baton charges. Many students were seriously injured as a result.
