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Published : 03 Feb 2025, 04:39 PM
Students from Government Titumir College have blocked the rail line in Dhaka’s Mohakhali in addition to blocking the road to press for their demand to upgrade the institution into an independent university.
The protest brought train service on the line to a halt around 3:45pm on Monday.
The students had previously blocked the road in front of the college’s main gate around 12:30pm with bamboo poles.
Students at the institution have been staging a shutdown programme at the college, boycotting classes and exams, since Jan 28 to press for their list of seven demands.
A group of students launched a hunger strike the following day, vowing to continue the protest until the college received state recognition as a university. From Thursday, the protesters began programmes blocking roads in the capital.
Dhaka University has already separated itself from the seven colleges following student protest, stating that the university would not be overseeing the admission process in the 2024-25 academic session.
A committee led by the chairman of the University Grants Commission, or UGC, is working on laying down an organisational structure for the seven colleges.
The colleges are Dhaka College, Eden Mohila College, Government Shaheed Suhrawardy College, Kabi Nazrul Government College, Begum Badrunnessa Government Girls' College, Government Bangla College and Government Titumir College.
The students of Government Titumir College have been protesting for a separate university for themselves for a long time.
The student movement, conducted under the Titumir Oikyo banner, has seven key demands.
These include publishing an academic calendar with state recognition, the formation of a “university administration” to conduct admissions for the 2024-25 sessions, and immediate cover for the housing costs of all students or ensuring housing arrangements for all of them.
The students are also demanding the addition of international-standard Law and Journalism subjects from the 2024-25 academic session, the appointment of qualified teachers with PhDs to conduct academic activities, limiting the number of seats to improve the quality of education, and ensuring land and financial allocations for building a research laboratory of international standards.
The interim government, including Education Advisor Wahiduddin Mahmud, have urged the Titumir students to be patient. Following an ECNEC meeting on Sunday, Education Advisor Wahiduddin Mahmud told journalists: "The demand to upgrade Government Titumir College to a university has not been given special consideration."
The protesting students have demanded that Education Advisor Wahiduddin Mahmud retract his comments on the movement.
The protesters also demanded that Law Advisor Asif Nazrul apologise publicly for “obstructing the formation” of a commission to oversee the university conversion process.
