Students of the Dhaka Polytechnic Institute on Friday afternoon brought out a "shroud procession" in the capital’s Tejgaon area, as part of a central programme to press home their six-point demand.
In an announcement on Thursday, students of all polytechnic institutes across the country were instructed to take to streets with "shrouds" after Jumma prayer on Friday, reports Prothom Alo.
Around 2:00 pm, the students started a procession from the mosque of the Dhaka Polytechnic Institute. Some of the participants wore "shrouds", while the others tied it on their heads. They were chanting various slogans in favour of their demands.
The procession marched through the Tejgaon main road before ending at the main entrance of the Dhaka Polytechnic Institute. Later, they took positions on the campus.
Masfiq Islam, a central representative of the movement, said they had urged the authorities to take measures during their meeting with the authorities at the secretariat, but it was not implemented. They relaxed the movement and went to join a meeting on Thursday, as per request from the education adviser.
“After reaching the meeting venue, we noticed that there was no education adviser or secretary. Therefore, we rejected the meeting in an air-conditioned room. If our demands are not met, we will take up tougher programmes that do not cause suffering to the public,” he said.
Six-point demand
The first point of the six-point demand announced by the polytechnic students is cancellation of 30 per cent quota of craft instructors for promotion to junior instructor position.
It also includes annulment of the High Court’s verdict on craft instructors’ promotion to junior instructor position, change of craft instructors’ designation, dismissal of those involved in the court case, annulment of the appointment of craft instructors recruited in 2021, and immediate correction of that disputed recruitment regulation.
Despite repeated attempts to contact officials of various levels at the Ministry of Education to get their views on these demands of the students, they couldn’t be reached.
Later, when contacted senior information officer at the Ministry of Education Siraj Ud-Daula Khan and asked him about the ministry’s views on this matter, he said that he has not been given any instructions in this regard.
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