Army to ‘get responsibility’ of Jagannath University’s second campus

The students want the project to be implemented through the army, the education advisor says

In 2016, in the face of a student movement, the government announced the construction of a new Jagannath University campus on 200 acres of land in Dhaka’s Keraniganj. Eight years have passed since, but little visible work has been finished aside from filling in the ground. Photo: Abdullah al Momin

Education and Planning Advisor Wahiduddin Mahmud has given the green light to the construction of Jagannath University’s second campus by the Bangladesh Army.

After a meeting with the university administration and representatives of the protesting students at the Secretariat on Tuesday, he said: “They [students] want the project to be implemented through the army. There is no problem with that. If the university administration, which operates largely autonomously, wants it to do so, the ministry has no objection to it.

"Rather, we will help them to connect with the army.”

The students of the university located in old Dhaka had blocked the capital’s Education Rights Chattar first and then besieged the Secretariat to press home their five-point charter of demand on Monday.

They returned to the campus later after Information and Broadcasting Advisor Nahid Islam assured them of resolving the issues within three days.

Following the meeting with the advisor, AKM Rakib, an organiser of the movement, told bdnews24.com: "We are withdrawing the three-day ultimatum as the education ministry has agreed to our demands. But the university has to give us a complete outline.

"The government has given us false assurances for so long. They were saying so far that they have talked to the University Grants Commission about the second campus and the hall. But today, everything became clear. No such request has been made by the university administration."

Among others, another representative of the protesters Tauseeb Mahmood Sohan, JnU Vice-Chancellor Rezaul Karim, Department of Islamic Studies Chairman Rais Uddin and proctor Tajammul Haque joined the meeting.

The JnU students have been protesting for the past few days over a five-point list of demand, including bringing the previous project director under the law and handing over the work of the new campus to the army.

The protesters also demanded that the education ministry must make an announcement with a clear roadmap that the second campus project of JnU has been handed over to the army. Immediate steps must be taken to acquire the remaining 11 acres of land, and cancel all previous agreements tied to the old campus.

Jagannath University must be included in the recently announced pilot project by the UGC. The university’s annual budget allocation should be a minimum of Tk 5 billion.

After the meeting with the education advisor, Rais Uddin told bdnews24.com: "The education ministry agrees with all the reasonable demands of our students. We will start work from the university administration from tomorrow.

“A former competent army officer will be appointed soon as the planning director first and later they will be made the new project director."

Vice-Chancellor Rezaul said: "Discussion is under way about the process of handing over the responsibility of the second campus to the army. The ministry also gave directions and we will go ahead with our plan accordingly."