Traffic snarls in Dhaka as polytechnic students block roads to demand degree recognition

The protest in Tejgaon's Saat Rasta intersection causes heavy traffic congestion across the city, prompting police to issue a diversionary advisory on Facebook

Students from various polytechnic institutes have launched street protests in Dhaka and other parts of the country to press home their charter of six demands, including recognition of their diplomas as equivalent to undergraduate degrees.

Around 10:30am on Wednesday, students descended on the busy Tejgaon Saat Rasta intersection in the capital in droves, bringing traffic to a crawl and causing severe gridlock during rush hour.

Students also began pouring onto the Mirpur-10 roundabout around 12pm, choking traffic in the area, according to Mohammad Rahat Gawhari, deputy commissioner of the Mirpur Traffic Division.

The protesters, under the banner of "Karigori Chhatra Andolon Bangladesh" (Technical Students' Movement of Bangladesh), represent public and private polytechnic institutes, technical schools and colleges, and other institutions under the Bangladesh Technical Education Board. They said that similar protests were being held in other parts of the country.

The students are demanding that diploma engineering certificates be treated as equivalent to bachelor's degrees and that diploma graduates be eligible for higher education and public service recruitment on par with honours graduates, among other things.

Hashem Reza, a student of Dhaka Polytechnic Institute, said that although they had previously submitted memoranda to different authorities, no action had been taken, prompting this larger movement. He added that similar demonstrations were taking place in Sylhet, Rangpur, Bogura, and Patuakhali.

Tejgaon Industrial Police Station chief Gazi Shamimur Rahman said that around a thousand students took to the streets around 10:30am, disrupting traffic at the intersection. He added that the students had previously held protests over the same demands.

Students from Graphics Art College in Mohammadpur also took to the streets around 11:45am as part of the ongoing protests.

As a result, traffic in the Mohammadpur Bus Stand area came to a complete halt, said Mohammadpur Police Station chief Iftekhar Hossain.

The protest on the key thoroughfare has caused heavy traffic congestion across the city, prompting the Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Gulshan Traffic Division to issue an advisory on Facebook.

"Students of polytechnic institutes are currently occupying the road at Tejgaon Saat Rasta to press their demands, blocking both incoming and outgoing traffic. As a result, traffic on the Uttara–Banani–Mohakhali route is being disrupted. However, traffic from Mohakhali to Banani–Uttara remains normal," it said.

"We advise those heading towards Tejgaon via the Uttara–Banani–Mohakhali route to turn left at Amtoli and use the diversion through Gulshan 1–Police Plaza–Shanta Tower. The same diversion is advised for those travelling from Gulshan 1 towards Amtoli."