DU business students demand fair share in BCS education hiring

Students from several departments under the Faculty of Business Studies at Dhaka University (DU) staged a demonstration on Sunday, demanding equal opportunities in the education cadre of the Public Service Commission (PSC).

The protest began in the afternoon with a procession that started from the Faculty of Business Studies premises, paraded through different parts of the campus, and concluded with a brief rally at the base of the Raju Memorial Sculpture.

Students from Tourism and Hospitality Management (THM), International Business (IB), and Organisation Strategy and Leadership (OSL) departments joined the demonstration.

Speaking at the rally, Ashraful Islam, a student of International Business, said the Organisation Strategy and Leadership department had initially been included in the education cadre along with Management department under the 49th BCS (Special), while International Business; and Tourism and Hospitality Management departments were under consideration.

"But under pressure from the Department of Management, the PSC later withdrew that decision. Although our courses overlap by 70-80 per cent with other business faculty departments, we are repeatedly excluded from equal opportunities," he alleged.

The protesters demanded that IB, THM, and OSL courses be introduced in colleges across the country so that their graduates could also be recruited into the education cadre. Most posts should remain open, reserving only a few for Management and other departments, they said.

Following the rally, the students submitted a memorandum to the vice-chancellor and the dean of the Faculty of Business Studies. They also announced plans to submit their demands to the University Grants Commission (UGC) in the coming days.

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