Students of seven government colleges to resume protests

Students of the seven government colleges affiliated with Dhaka University (DU) are announcing a protest, citing delays in issuing an ordinance to convert their institutions into universities and in putting an interim administration in place.

They claim the admission process has stalled since the colleges were de-affiliated, resulting in a session jam, reports bdnews24.com.

Although two months have passed since the announcement to convert the colleges into universities, no ordinance has been issued.

Frustrated by the delay, they plan to announce a protest programme on Saturday, demanding the ordinance be promulgated within this month and an interim administration formed without further delay.

Md Naeem Howlader, a student representative of the movement to convert the seven colleges into universities, told bdnews24.com: “We will announce the programme at a press conference in front of Gate No 1 of Eden Women’s College on Saturday afternoon.”

“Initially, we will launch a soft programme to expedite the process of forming an interim administration. If that fails, a tougher action, even a blockade, may be announced later.

“We demand a quick interim administration and issuance of an ordinance to convert the colleges into universities within May.”

The fourth-year student of the Department of Statistics of Dhaka College said, “The UGC has sent a proposal to form an interim administration to the public administration ministry for final approval through the education ministry. But it is pending.

“After the cancellation of affiliation, the colleges are without guardians, and admissions are stopped.

“This situation will create an academic backlog. Admissions can start once the interim administration is formed.”

University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman SMA Faiz could not be reached for comment, despite repeated attempts, regarding the interim administration for the seven colleges and the ordinance to convert them into universities.

He is the head of the University Outline Formulation Committee for the seven colleges.

The seven government colleges are Dhaka College, Government Bangla College, Government Titumir College, Eden Mohila College, Kabi Nazrul Government College, Government Shaheed Suhrawardy College, and Begum Badrunnesa Government Girls’ College. Currently, there are about 200,000 students in these colleges.

In the wake of the student movement of July-August 2024, the colleges were announced to be released from the affiliation of Dhaka University on Jan 27.

On Mar 16, the announcement was made to transform them into an independent university under the name “Dhaka Central University”.

Amid the announcement of the cancellation of the colleges’ affiliation, applications for admission for the 2024–25 academic year were ongoing.

However, the admission process was halted following the announcement.

The UGC proposed the formation of an interim administration headed by a principal to take charge of the colleges before an institutional structure is formed.

While DU will take the academic responsibility of the current students, the responsibility of new students will rest with the interim administration until an independent institutional structure is formed.

The education ministry sent the UGC proposal to DU on Mar 2 and asked it to take action accordingly.

According to the proposal, a temporary integrated structure will be formed, comprising representatives from DU's Office of the Controller of Examinations, Admissions Office, Office of the Registrar, and Accounts Department.

This body will manage all undergraduate and postgraduate programmes of the seven colleges from the 2024–25 academic year.

They will also handle the responsibilities of the colleges until they are included in a certified university or equivalent institutional structure.

According to the proposed structure, a committee headed by a UGC member will act as a monitoring body for the government colleges.

The director of the structure will be a “qualified and experienced” principal from among the seven colleges, nominated by the monitoring body.

In the proposed structure, a representative or officer of the Registrar's Office, empowered under the guidance of DU, will assist in the administrative activities related to the students of the seven colleges.

Similarly, representatives or officers of the Office of the Controller of Examinations will assist the structure in all examination-related activities. Representatives or officers of the Finance and Accounts Department will assist in finance and account-related activities.

There will also be an online admission committee for the seven colleges.

The activities of the proposed structure will be conducted from an appropriate office outside the DU campus—specifically, from the college whose representative is nominated as director.

Under this structure, all accounts will be managed through a separate bank account of DU.