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The protesting students of Government Titumir College have “rejected” the education advisor’s statement over the demand to upgrade the institution into a university.
In protest against the advisor’s comments, they took out a procession carrying a banner reading “Barasat Barricade to North City” from the campus and blocked Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway in Mohakhali’s Amtoli around 6:30pm on Sunday.
They returned to the road outside the college with the procession after lifting the blockade after an hour.
One of the protesters, Mehedi Hasan, said the road blockade had begun in rejection of Education Advisor Wahiduddin Mahmud’s statement saying that “no special consideration was given” to upgrade the college into a university.
Another protester, Nayek Noor, said: “We took position on the main road in Amtoli for an hour. We are going back to campus now. The blockade event will resume again from 11am [Monday].
“The former students of the college have expressed their solidarity with us. It will be notified if there is any programme with them.”
During a visit at the scene, the bdnews24.com correspondent found several police personnel, equipped with a water cannon, deployed in Amtoli.
The protesters have enforced a blockade currently outside the college using bamboo poles.
Earlier on Sunday afternoon, Wahiduddin told the media after an Executive Committee of the National Economic Council, or ECNEC, meeting that he had not given any “special consideration” to the demand of upgrading Titumir College into a university.
Commenting that the interim government “is not here to fulfil demands”, Wahiduddin said: “We are here to ensure a smooth transition to a well-governed democratic system. In the meantime, we will try to implement small reforms.”
He continued, "We have clearly said from the education ministry that the seven colleges do not want to remain under Dhaka University, and Dhaka University does not want to oversee these seven colleges. This is reasonable.
“That is why a specialist committee, headed by the [University Grants Commission] chairman, is working on creating a separate university model for these seven colleges," reports bdnews24.com.
“Titumir College is among them, and its case is also being given special consideration there."
The advisor said the committee met representatives of all seven colleges, including Titumir College, to address the difficulties and inconveniences students have faced over the past few years.
He added that while Bangladesh has many esteemed colleges, such as Rajshahi College, Government Brojomohun College, and MC College, not every college can be converted into a university.
Wahiduddin suggested that the number of public universities should be reduced.
“There are 55 public universities. Half of them have been established in the past seven years. Bangladesh has set a record for the fastest expansion of universities.
“It takes several years to establish a university from the planning stage. Dhaka University itself was founded after seven to eight years of planning and multiple commission reports.”
The advisor urged the protesting students to ensure their demonstrations do not disrupt academic activities or cause public suffering.
“Many Titumir College students want to return to their classes. They do not want to cause public inconvenience,” he concluded.
Titumir College students have been staging hunger strikes and road blockades to press home their seven-point list of demands, including the conversion of the institution into a university.
Amid such a situation, a statement issued by the education ministry on Saturday said that the government is "especially considering" the demand to convert the Government Titumir College into a university.
On the night of Jan 27, the “Titumir Oikya” platform gave the authorities 48 hours to turn the college into a university and form an administrative structure following the transition.
Otherwise, they threatened to block roads and railways in Mohakhali from Thursday.
That night, the students launched a hunger strike outside the college’s main gate.
The seven-point charter of demand pressed by the protesters' platform “Titumir Oikya” includes publishing the academic calendar of the university with state recognition; conducting the admission programme for 2024-25 academic year by forming the university administration and providing housing to all students or bearing their accommodation cost.