RU officers call off ‘complete shutdown’, teachers keep classes, exams suspended
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The Rajshahi University Officers Association has withdrawn its “complete shutdown” after issuing a seven-day ultimatum, though the Nationalist Teachers Forum has kept academic activities suspended.
Islami Islami Chhatra Shibir, meanwhile, staged a human chain on campus protesting against the shutdown.
Announcing the withdrawal of the shutdown on Wednesday afternoon, Officers Association President Moktar Hossain said: “On Tuesday senior university officials sat with us in a meeting. They asked for some time to address our demands.
“In response, [On Wednesday] we sat in a meeting with officers and teachers and decided unanimously to give the administration seven days. So from 1pm we have withdrawn the shutdown.”
He warned that tougher programmes would follow if the authorities failed to implement the demands in time, adding that the administration must take sole responsibility for any untoward incident in the meantime.
The Nationalist Teachers Forum, however, is sticking to its plan of keeping classes and exams suspended. “We have not withdrawn our programme,” said its General Secretary Prof Amirul Islam.
“Whatever the Officers Association does is not our concern. Until our demands are met, we will continue.”
On Wednesday morning, Shibir organised a human chain outside the central library in protest against the shutdown.
Mujahid Faisal, general secretary of the group’s university chapter, said: “The deadlock on campus is being created deliberately. To serve the agenda of a particular party, the RUCSU election has been postponed three times.”
Calling the shutdown programme “completely unreasonable”, Shibir’s university unit President Mostakur Rahman Zahid said: “Postponing the RUCSU election is not their real goal, the main aim is to cancel it altogether. From Sept 15 to 28, then to Sept 25, and now to Oct 16, they have been changing dates to buy time.
“In the end they may announce the election cannot be held this year. Students will never accept an attempt to cancel an election that is being held after 35 years,” he added.