Thousands of Jagannath University (JnU) students marched from their campus to the Shikkha Bhaban this afternoon, calling for their inclusion in a University Grants Commission (UGC) pilot project alongside Dhaka University. The students also demanded urgent reforms of JnU management.
Around 2,000 students marched from the campus, eventually reaching the Shikkha Bhaban where they submitted a memorandum outlining a three-point demand.
The protest began around 11:30am and as of 1:45pm the students were still outside the Shikkha Bhaban, reported our JnU correspondent on the spot.
The students' demands include removal of a "corrupt" project director appointed during the former autocratic regime and the appointment of a competent military officer as director within a week.
They also urged the ministry to transfer control of the university's second campus development project to the army, with a clear outline of the handover process and priority given to student housing.
Additionally, the students called for the acquisition of 11 remaining acres of land and the cancellation of what they described as "unethical agreements" (drawn up during the previous regime) regarding the university's old campus.
On November 7, UGC proposed an amendment to the Higher Education Acceleration and Transformation (HEAT) project to secure funding for uninterrupted high-speed broadband connections in university residential halls and scholarship opportunities for underprivileged, talented students. Dhaka University was selected to roll out the pilot project.
source: the daily star
