BUET teachers condemn police crackdown on students, demand action

Teachers of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) have strongly condemned the recent police attack on students demanding fair recruitment rights for graduate engineers, according to a press statement Friday.

Students from BUET and other institutions offering BSc (Engineering) degrees have been demonstrating for the past few days to secure their 'rightful appointment' as assistant engineers or equivalent positions, and to eliminate quota disparities in the relevant grades.

Police on Wednesday baton-charged students during a peaceful sit-in, firing tear gas, water cannons, and sound grenades. Many students sustained serious injuries. The BUET Teachers’ Association termed the attack on students ‘reckless’ and ‘completely unacceptable,’ according to the statement.

Following the incident, the BUET Teachers’ Association convened an emergency general meeting on Thursday (August 28). Teachers at the meeting strongly condemned the indiscriminate and excessive use of force by police and urged the government to identify those responsible and take immediate legal action after a proper investigation.

The teachers further demanded inclusion of representatives from engineering universities in any national-level committee formed on the issue, as well as a prompt resolution of graduate engineers’ justified recruitment demands to restore a conducive academic environment on campuses.

They later formed a human chain to protest the ‘condemnable’ incident.

BUET teachers stressed that the government must promptly meet the students’ legitimate demands and take exemplary action against those responsible for the attack.