Atmosphere at some premier universities is heating up with students rallying over various issues, including in protest at sexual harassment and attack on fellows and for make-up classes.
The situation is tense particularly at Jahangirnagar University where students have started angry protests against harassment of two female students allegedly by Chhatra League activists on April 14.
Female students of Jahangirnagar University boycotted classes and examinations, to protest at the harassment.
Agitated students of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology have been boycotting classes and examinations since Saturday in protest at the ‘brutal’ attack on one of their fellows in a dormitory.
General students of Jagannath University staged demonstrations to press for holding of classes on Fridays and Saturdays and cancellation of the summer vacation to make up for the academic losses caused by hartals enforced frequently by opposition political parties.
A section of students of Dhaka University have been staging demonstrations since April 3 in protest at the arrest of fellow student and blogger Subrata Adhikari Shubho and demanding his unconditional release. Shubho was arrested on April 2, along with two other bloggers on charge of hurting religious sentiments.
The protesters marched in processions on the campus and besieged the vice-chancellor’s office and threatened to call a strike.
They, under the banner of Dhaka University Teachers and Students, would hold a press conference today to announce fresh programmes.
At Jahangirnagar University classes and examinations of most of the departments were not held for the second day on Tuesday.
Several hundred female students of the university on Tuesday marched in a silent procession on the campus to protest at the sexual harassment of their two fellows.
Almost all female students of the university took to the streets on Monday and besieged the VC’s office demanding expulsion of the offenders from the university.
Sources said some Chhatra League activists of the university had harassed the two female students of the botany department at Tarjan point over a trifling matter on Sunday after a Baishakhi procession.
Witnesses said the BCL activists, including Tanvir Hasan Khan and Subal Debnath Akash, had harassed the two students and pulled them by their sarees.
Tanzida Mohsin Tuba, a leader of the movement, said they would continue boycotting classes and examinations until the offenders were punished.
The protesters submitted a memorandum to VC Anwar Hossain giving him
72 hours to meet a three-point demand, including expulsion of the BCL men responsible for the harassment and display of posters with the names of the offenders.
JU proctor Sohel Ahmed told New Age that they would take actions against the students very soon if they were found guilty.
Meanwhile, activists of BCL under the banner of ‘conscious students’ body’ staged a demonstration on the campus on Tuesday to press for suspension of botany department chairman Mohammad Ali Akando, ‘for his alleged attack on a student’.
BCL activists alleged that Ali Akando had assaulted a student at Tarjan point after reaching the spot hearing the news of the incident of sexual harassment. BCL activists submitted a complaint to the vice-chancellor.
In BUET, classes and examinations of most of the departments were not held on Tuesday for the fourth day as students continued boycotting classes and examinations, protesting at the ‘brutal’ attack on a fellow.
They demanded arrest of the attackers who had stabbed third year mechanical engineering student Arif Raihan Dwip at Kabi Nazrul Hall on April 9.
They also pressed for resignation of the director of students’ welfare, Delwar Hossain, for his alleged indifference.
The students said Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir had mounted the attack on Dwip, also a Chhatra League activist.
BUET vice-chancellor SM Nazrul Islam told New Age that they would take necessary steps to settle the matter.
At Jagannath University, general students urged the authorities to hold classes on Fridays and Saturdays and cancel summer vacation to make up for the losses in the academic session caused by frequent general strikes.
Jagannath University Bangla department student Faruque Ahmad Abir said that they had also submitted a memorandum to the vice-chancellor, Mizanur Rahman to meet their demand.
They said that for political instability and hartals, classes at the university were held for only nine days in March and in January and February, the university remained closed for 24 days. ‘This loss is increasing the session jam.’