Polytechnic students end protest for today, announce nationwide railway blockade tomorrow
They have also called for a non-cooperation movement
Students from government and private polytechnic institutes have announced a nationwide railway blockade, including in Dhaka.
This fresh programme is a part of their ongoing movement to press for their six-point demands and to protest alleged attacks by law enforcement during their demonstrations.
Zubair Patwary, a representative of the "Karigori Chhatra Andolon, Bangladesh", made the announcement following a day-long sit-in at Saat Rasta intersection in Tejgaon this evening (16 April).
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They have also called for a non-cooperation movement.
Earlier in the day, students from several polytechnic and survey institutes in Dhaka and several other districts staged protests, expressing solidarity with the ongoing nationwide protests by polytechnic students over the immediate implementation of their six-point demands.
The six-point demand includes reforms in recruitment policies, academic guidelines, and greater opportunities for higher education for diploma engineers.
The first demand calls for the cancellation of a 30% promotion quota for craft instructors to the post of junior instructor.
The students also demanded that the High Court declare the promotion of these craft instructors illegal, that their designations be changed, and those involved in related lawsuits be dismissed.
They called for the cancellation of all controversial night-time recruitments of craft instructors made in 2021 and demanded immediate reform of the relevant recruitment policy.
The second demand seeks to abolish open-age admission in the Diploma in Engineering course. Students want a quality, four-year curriculum modelled after developed countries, with a gradual shift to English as the medium of instruction.
In their third demand, the students want the legal requirement to reserve positions in the 10th grade (equivalent to sub-assistant engineer) for diploma engineers. They alleged that despite the mandate, several government, state-owned, autonomous, and semi-autonomous organisations are recruiting diploma graduates to lower posts.
They demanded legal action against such institutions.
The fourth demand is to prohibit the appointment of individuals without technical education backgrounds to key administrative positions in the technical education sector, including director, assistant director, board chairman, deputy secretary, exam controller, and principal.
Students urged immediate recruitment of technically qualified personnel to these posts and also called for job circulars to fill all vacant posts for skilled teachers and lab assistants.
Their fifth demand includes the establishment of a separate "Ministry of Technical and Higher Education" and the formation of a "Technical Education Reform Commission."
The sixth demand is the establishment of a high-quality technical university to ensure higher education opportunities for students graduating from polytechnic and monotechnic institutes.
The students also urged authorities to ensure 100% admission of these graduates in the upcoming academic session through temporary campuses at four under-construction engineering colleges in Narail, Natore, Khagrachhari, and Thakurgaon, under the academic authority of DUET.
