Diploma Demands Drive ‘Agri Blockade’ Protest in Dhaka
Diploma students in agricultural engineering have launched a protest dubbed the "Agri Blockade" by locking all entrances of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Dhaka’s Khamarbari, demanding higher education opportunities and seven other key reforms. Security forces, including police and army personnel, were seen on alert outside the premises.
Since Monday morning, students gathered in front of the DAE under the banner of “Krishi Diploma Chhatra Adhikar Andolon” (Agricultural Diploma Students’ Rights Movement) to press their demands. Asaduzzaman Abid, one of the protesting students, said, “Starting from 9:00 am, nearly 2,000 students have been participating in this sit-in protest demanding their rights.”
There are currently around 25,000 students enrolled in the four-year diploma courses across 18 government-run Agricultural Training Institutes and 260 private agricultural colleges in the country. Protesters claim these students face discrimination in terms of employment opportunities and access to higher education.
Their demands include allowing diploma agriculturalists to pursue higher studies in public agricultural universities and issuing an official gazette recognizing Sub-Assistant Agricultural Officers as second-class government employees with continued recruitment every year. They also called for resolving the teacher shortage in diploma institutes to improve educational standards.
Additional demands raised by the demonstrators include detaching diploma agricultural education from the Department of Agricultural Extension and placing it entirely under the Ministry of Agriculture, reserving the position of Assistant Scientific Officer in all agricultural research institutions exclusively for diploma holders, and ensuring private-sector jobs for diploma agriculturalists provide salaries according to at least the 10th-grade pay scale. They are also seeking field attachment allowances for diploma students and six months of foundation training for Sub-Assistant Agricultural Officers after recruitment.
The protest continues with demonstrators showing no sign of backing down until their demands are met.
