Polytechnic agitation sparks urgent meetings

The government has rushed meetings with the teachers and students of polytechnic institutes on Monday in the wake of the violent agitations by the students across the country.

The Ministry of Housing and Public Works and the Ministry of Education will sit separately with the representatives of Bangladesh Polytechnic Teachers Association, Diploma Engineers Institute Association, Diploma Peshajibi Chhatra Sangram Parishad and Karigari Chhatra Parishad.

Bangladesh Polytechnic Teachers Association President Idris Ali on Sunday night confirmed bdnews24.com of the meetings on Monday.

He said the first meeting will take place at 11am between Housing and Public Works Secretary Khandaker Shawkat Hossain and RAJUK Chairman Nurul Huda, the President and General Secretary of Diploma Engineers Institute Association.

The second meeting at 12:30 will be between Education Secretary Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury and representatives of Bangladesh Polytechnic Teachers Association, Diploma Engineers Institute Association, Diploma Peshajibi Chhatra Sangram Parishad and Karigari Chhatra Parishad.

Both meetings will seek to resolve the issues related to the demands of the polytechnic students who unleashed demonstrations across the country including capital Dhaka on Sunday to force authorities to accept them.

The students and teachers have been demonstrating countrywide for several days to push for several demands including amendment to a 2008 gazette to include diploma engineers as opposed to ‘supervisor to diploma engineers’, increase in promotion quota of diploma engineers from 33 to 50 percent, an end to discrimination in salary structure and a raise in student scholarships and training allowance.

Polytechnic students had orchestrated a movement during the last caretaker government’s tenure to amend the gazette.

Later, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had assured them of bringing an amendment, but this did not happen due to ‘bureaucratic complications’, the demonstrators had alleged.