Students of all engineering universities across Bangladesh are enforcing a “complete shutdown” program to press home their three-point demand, announced by the platform Prokoushol Odhikar Andolon (Engineering Rights Movement).
At BUET, where Thursday is already a weekly holiday, students boycotted scheduled exams as part of the program. “We have boycotted today’s exams and are observing the shutdown,” said Nasimul Islam, a fourth-year BUET student.
A visit to BUET around 10 am Thursday found classrooms deserted. “Today is already a holiday at BUET, so no one will come,” said Golzar Hossain, a security guard at the Civil Engineering building. Some staff were present in departments, but students were absent.
The protests stem from demonstrations at Dhaka’s Shahbagh, where BUET students had been staging a sit-in since Tuesday. On Wednesday, students blocked the Shahbagh intersection from 11 am and later attempted to march towards the Chief Adviser’s residence in Jamuna. Police intercepted them near the InterContinental Hotel, using sound grenades, tear gas, water cannons, and batons to disperse the crowd. Several students were injured.
After regrouping at Shahbagh later in the evening, students left the area around 10:30 pm. At a press briefing that night, protest leaders announced a “Complete Shutdown of Engineers” across all universities.
Their three demands are:
Recruitment for ninth-grade Assistant Engineer posts should be strictly examination-based, with BSc in Engineering as the minimum qualification.
The 10th-grade posts, currently reserved for diploma engineers, should also allow higher degree holders to apply.
Only graduates with a BSc in Engineering should be recognized as “engineers.”
In response, the government has formed a committee to review the rationale of demands from both BSc engineering graduates and diploma engineers and make recommendations.
