DU authorities vow to meet demands of student protesters

The authorities of Dhaka University have pledged to resolve the ongoing issues affecting educational activities at its seven affiliate government colleges after admitting that there were a few 'complications' relating to the process.

Dhaka University's Vice Chancellor Prof Md Akhtaruzzaman will meet students from seven colleges who have been protesting for two days to address their demands on Wednesday evening.

The students blockaded the capital's Nilkhet intersection for the second day on Wednesday to press for a five-point demand, including the reevaluation of exam results.

They later left street around 2pm on Wednesday after a meeting between the protestors and the vice chancellor was announced.

BM Shahin, a student representative from Dhaka College, told bdnews24.com, "The vice chancellor will meet us in his office at 4pm. We will talk about our demands there. We will resume our protests in the streets tomorrow if a resolution is not found."

The protesters said that they want the issues relating to the colleges to be resolved without its affiliation with Dhaka University being severed.

Shahedul Islam, a Mirpur Government Bangla College student from the 2014-15 academic year who took part in the sit-in programme, said, "We are seeking a solution to the ongoing problems without ending the affiliation. We believe that cancelling the affiliation will escalate the problem."

“We believe our merit hasn’t been evaluated properly since the college became affiliated. But we don’t want the affiliation to be cancelled as it came from a decision of the prime minister,” said Zakia Chowdhury, a third year student of Eden College.

“We won’t defy her. We want our colleges to remain affiliated but also want our merit to be evaluated properly.”

“We want a separate administration building where we can work out our issues easily,” she said.