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Traffic in the capital's Tejgaon area came to a standstill on Wednesday as protests organised by polytechnic students created tailbacks, causing sufferings to commuters.
Polytechnic students blocked roads to press home their six-point demand, including the cancellation of the High Court verdict on the promotion of craft instructors to junior instructors.
Students gathered at the Saat Rasta intersection in Tejgaon around 10am and stayed there until evening. While leaving the scene, they announced a rail blockade for Thursday (today) if their demands are not fulfilled.
They also declared the Directorate of Technical Education's director general as persona non grata.
Secretary of the Technical and Madrasah Education Division Dr KM Kabirul Islam said education ministry officials visited the spot at the Saat Rasta intersection to persuade the students to end their demonstrations.
A ministry official said they had a fruitful discussion with the students.
Various roads in Dhaka were also clogged with traffic because of the agitation.
Deputy Commissioner (Tejgaon traffic zone) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Rafiqul Islam said the students took to the streets around 10:30am.
The protests slowed traffic in Moghbazar, Karwan Bazar, Shahbagh, Ramna, Shantinagar, Bangla Motor, and Hatirjheel areas. Many commuters used alternative routes to reach their destinations. The Moghbazar-Mouchak flyover was also gridlocked.
A group of polytechnic students gathered in front of the Allah Karim Mosque in Mohammadpur, disrupting traffic in nearby Asad Gate, Beribadh, and Dhanmondi areas.
The angry students demanded the immediate transfer of all "controversial" craft instructors appointed in 2021 under the Directorate of Technical Education and the continuation of the four-year diploma in engineering programme with each semester lasting six months.
They also called for restrictions on the recruitment for the post of sub-assistant engineer (10th grade) to ensure that these positions remain reserved for diploma engineers and reforms in the technical education board to prevent non-technical personnel from holding key roles.
Other demands included amending the technical education directorate's recruitment rules, appointing qualified technical personnel to the vacant posts and teaching positions, and ensuring a 100 per cent seat allocation for diploma graduates in the proposed four engineering colleges so that they can pursue higher education.
Meanwhile, hundreds of students from Chattogram Polytechnic Institute blocked a major road in the port city in the afternoon, causing gridlock and sufferings to commuters.
The demonstration, held in the city's 2 Number Gate area, was part of a programme that they called the "Bangla Blockade." Students sat on the road holding placards and chanted slogans throughout the afternoon, demanding an end to what they called a threat to the integrity of technical education.
They said most craft instructors lack formal technical education, with many holding only the eighth-grade or secondary school certificate qualifications.
The craft instructors' primary role has traditionally been to assist in laboratories, not to teach, said the protesters, adding that promoting them to junior instructors, a position that is typically meant for diploma engineers, would deprive students of proper technical instructions and also devalue their own qualifications.
Among their other demands were mandatory diploma engineering degrees for junior instructor appointments, quickly establishing engineering universities in each divisional city to ensure academic progress for diploma graduates, and allowing diploma engineers to apply for primary school teaching jobs as part of a broader plan to integrate technical education into early education.
Additionally, the students called on the government to introduce a standard minimum salary scale for diploma engineers in the private sector.
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