Staff Reporter:
Prime Minister Tarique Rahman yesterday walked from Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban to the Professor Muzaffar Ahmed Chowdhury Auditorium in the Social Sciences Faculty on Dhaka Univer-sity (DU) campus, setting an unprecedented example in campus history.
Officials described it as a rare event in the country’s history for a head of the government to walk freely across a university campus to attend an event.
The Prime Minister started walking shortly before 12 pm for the Social Sciences Faculty after attending the inaugural session of a national workshop at the Senate Bhaban, PM’s Press Secretary AAM Saleh Shibly said.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) organized the workshop titled “Transforming Higher Educa-tion in Bangladesh: Roadmap to Sustainable Excellence” with the aim of making the country’s higher education system more modern, inclusive and sustainable.
Despite an official motorcade being prepared outside the Senate Bhaban, Tarique Rahman chose to walk to the Social Sciences Faculty building near the Arts building (Kala Bhaban) to join a views exchange program with students.
As students saw the Prime Minister walking through the campus, many clapped their hands while some others chanted slogans.
Convener of the organizing committee of the views exchange program, Professor Dr Md Morshed Hasan Khan, said, “There is no previous record of any head of government walking through the university campus in such a natural manner outside a strict security cordon. It is a remarkable moment.”
At the Professor Muzaffar Ahmed Chowdhury Auditorium, the Prime Minister took part in an open question-and-answer session with around 150 students, where he responded candidly to different aca-demic and campus related questions.
