Bangladesh government to sit with public universities too after students’ link to militancy surface

The government has called a meeting with the authorities of all public universities after scheduling a similar meeting with private universities on Jul 17.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 12 July 2016, 10:25 AM
Updated : 12 July 2016, 10:32 AM

The meetings have been called against the backdrop of investigation findings that suggested that university students were joining militant groups after running away from home.

Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid will preside over the meeting with public universities at the International Mother Language Institute in Dhaka’s Segunbaghicha on July 23 morning, a ministry official said on Tuesday.

The decision to hold such as discussion was taken at a meeting of Nahid, University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman Prof Abdul Mannan and top ministry officials earlier in the day, the official told bdnews24.com, asking not to be named.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, top officials of different security forces, vice-chancellors (VC) and pro-VCs of the public universities, educationists and leaders of the Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers’ Association will also be invited to take part, the official added.

The home ministry has also scheduled a meeting with the authorities of all private universities on July 17 after learning of the militant links of many of their students.

Kamal is supposed to preside over this meeting, which Nahid too will attend.

Currently there are 38 public universities and 95 government-approved private universities in the country, and academic activities are on in 37 and 80 of them, respectively.

Two of the five attackers who killed 22 people at an upscale cafe in Dhaka’s Gulshan-2 on July 1 night before being shot dead by army commandoes the next morning, were students of North South University (NSU) and BRAC University.

One of the terrorists who killed two policemen in an attack on a check-post near Sholakia Eidgah ground on July 7 morning, before being shot dead by police, was also an NSU student.

Three of the cafe attackers and the dead Sholakia attacker, all from wealthy families, had studied in top and expensive English medium schools.

All six were missing for the past several months, their families said.

Before them, seven of the eight persons convicted for the February 2013 murder of blogger and Ganajagaran Mancha activist Ahmed Rajib Haider were also NSU students.

The government has urged the parents to inform authorities about their missing children and any possible ties between them and militant groups.

All educational institutions in the country have also been told to submit to the authorities lists of students who have been absent for 10 straight days.