Diploma Engineers Denounce Demands, Defend Their Rights
Leaders of the Diploma Engineering Struggle Council have accused engineering university students of attempting to push diploma engineers “from the upper to the lower tiers of professional life” through their so-called three-point demand. They further alleged that the movement is intended to embarrass the government and disrupt the upcoming election.
The remarks came on August 30, Saturday, at a press conference held under the banner of the Diploma Engineering Student-Teacher-Professional Struggle Council at the Institution of Diploma Engineers in the capital. The event was titled “Protesting the irrational demands and anarchy of BSc engineers and supporting the justified seven-point demands of diploma engineers.” The organizers reiterated their commitment to continue a peaceful movement in favor of their own seven-point demands.
In a written statement, Council Member Secretary Engineer Imam Uddin said, “The three-point demands raised by university students of engineering and technology have no logical basis. The issues were already resolved through government gazettes of 1978 and 1994. We believe there is a dark force fueling this movement, aiming to destabilize the entire engineering education system and profession while pushing the country into an anarchic state.”
He urged that “the settled matters of the engineering profession must remain intact while the other points of our seven demands are addressed rationally. We are confident in the government’s vision of building a discrimination-free Bangladesh.” Imam Uddin noted that an eight-member committee, headed by Energy Adviser Muhammad Faozul Kabir Khan with Additional Secretary Kazi Muhammad Mozammel Haque of the Ministry of Public Administration as member secretary, has already been formed by the Cabinet Division to recommend fair resolutions of professional demands of both BSc and diploma engineers. The committee includes three government advisers and has since created a 14-member working committee. However, only four diploma engineers were included.
He cautioned, “Given the dominance of BSc degree engineers, there is strong potential for bias. We demand the restructuring of the working committee so that it includes one representative each from diploma and degree engineers, with the remaining 12 members drawn from neutral administrative cadres.”
Issuing a warning, Imam Uddin added, “If attempts are made to act against diploma engineers, we will not sit idle. Just because we have not announced programs yet does not mean we won’t. At the right time, we will.”
IDEA President Kabir Hossain also spoke at the conference, saying, “The three-point demands of BSc engineers are in fact an attempt to undermine the rights diploma engineers have already achieved. According to the 1978 and 1994 policies, diploma engineers are recruited in the 10th grade and have opportunities for promotion. But the BSc engineers claim diploma engineers should not be called engineers and should not be promoted from the 10th to the 9th grade—despite themselves enjoying 100 percent quotas from the 9th grade up to the 1st grade.”
The leaders warned that if the students’ demands are met, “over 500 polytechnic institutes across the country will be forced to shut down.”
Responding to a question, Engineer Akheruzzaman said, “If the three-point demand of BSc engineers is accepted, the job field for diploma engineers will shrink and the academic programs may collapse. For example, BSc engineers have applied for posts reserved for diploma engineers in the metro rail project and even filed lawsuits to halt recruitment exams. This harms the state and the people.”
The council leaders urged diploma engineers not to be swayed by the university students’ movement and to remain focused on the realization of their own seven-point demands.
Also present at the press conference were Joint Conveners of the Struggle Council Moslem Uddin, Ershad Ullah, Zainul Abedin, Abdus Sattar Shah, Senior Member Secretary Mizanur Rahman, and Public Relations Secretary Shahabuddin, among others.
Notably, while BSc engineers from BUET and other universities are agitating with three-point demands—such as prohibiting diploma engineers from using the title of “engineer”—diploma engineers themselves are campaigning with seven demands, including preventing BSc engineers from being recruited into sub-assistant engineer positions.
