Home
+
Published : 09 Jul 2025, 05:54 PM
Dhaka Medical College (DMC) is set to reopen this weekend after nearly three weeks of closure, as authorities announced the resumption of academic activities and the reopening of student hostels following unrest over housing and infrastructure demands.
An emergency meeting of the college’s academic council on Tuesday decided that classes will resume from Saturday, while all halls will reopen at 8:00am on Friday.
“Our students want to return to class. But with the college and hostels closed, their academic progress has been severely disrupted,” DMC Principal Dr Md Kamrul Alam told bdnews24.com on Wednesday.
The DMC students have been boycotting classes since May, demanding improvements in housing and academic facilities.
On Jun 21, they formed a human chain on campus to press their five-point list of demands.
That same day, the college authorities declared the institution closed indefinitely and ordered students to vacate the hostels by 12pm on Jun 22.
The students, however, refused to leave. Later, they announced they would remain in the hostels until their demands were met.
On Jun 23, a seven-strong delegation of students, accompanied by Principal Kamrul, visited the health ministry at the Secretariat around 11am.
Though they were scheduled to meet with the health advisor, they instead met with Sayedur Rahman, the special assistant to the chief advisor.
Following the meeting, which ended around 2pm, Abdullah Al Noman, a student from the K-79 batch, said the discussions were productive.
He said Sayedur had listened to their concerns but provided no definitive guidance on how their demands would be addressed.
“We have been asked to wait for some issues including budget implementation time and alternative accommodation,” Noman said.
“We were told that we will be informed later,” he added. “We are waiting for everything. However, we have not yet received clear instructions on how it is going to happen.
“That is why we are not returning to class yet. But we want this to be resolved quickly so that our academic activities are not disrupted. We want to return to class.”
The following day, the students confirmed they would not resume classes. Since then, both academic activities and hostel operations at the medical college have remained suspended.
The five-point list of demands includes:
• Swift approval of the budget for constructing new hostels and girls’ halls.
• Arrangements for alternative accommodation until the hostels are completed.
• A separate budget for a new academic building.
• Rapid approval and implementation of the budgets for housing and academic buildings.
• Appointment of student representatives to transparently present the progress of all projects and activities.
