Polytechnic Pupils Protest with Plenary Programme
Students of government and non-government polytechnic institutes across the country are staging demonstrations and sit-in programmes under the banner “Lal Ongikar” (Red Commitment) to press home their three-point demand. These include the rejection of threats to openly shoot diploma engineers, the dismissal of an “unbalanced committee” formed to resolve professional issues in the engineering sector, and the state’s rejection of what they call “irrational three-point demands” by degree engineers.
As part of the programme, a procession of protesting students started from Dhaka Polytechnic Institute around noon and marched towards the Satrasta intersection in Tejgaon. The procession halted under the flyover at Satrasta, where the students chanted slogans.
Although vehicular movement at the intersection slowed down, traffic did not come to a complete standstill. The students staged a half-hour sit-in before returning to their campus.
Earlier, the students joined the demonstration following a pre-scheduled press conference.
From the rally, demands were raised for the cancellation—through a High Court ruling—of the “illegal promotion” of craft instructors to the post of junior instructor, as well as the abolition of the opportunity to enroll in diploma-in-engineering courses at any age. They further demanded that the designations of craft instructors be revoked, those involved in the disputed recruitment be dismissed, the 2021 night-time recruitment of craft instructors be fully annulled, and the controversial recruitment rules be amended immediately.
The protesters also demanded legal action against the practice of appointing diploma engineers to lower positions in various government, state-run, autonomous, and self-governed institutions, despite these posts being reserved for sub-assistant engineers and equivalent (10th grade) graduates. They called for a prohibition—ensured by law—on appointing non-technical personnel to positions such as director, deputy director, board chairman, deputy secretary, controller of examinations, and principals in the technical education sector. Instead, they stressed the urgent need for recruiting technically educated professionals in these posts, alongside filling all vacancies with skilled teachers and lab assistants.
Furthermore, the students demanded the establishment of a separate Ministry of Technical and Higher Education and the formation of a Technical Education Reform Commission. They also called for the creation of an advanced technical university to ensure higher education opportunities for graduates of polytechnic and monotechnic institutes. In addition, they urged that the four under-construction engineering colleges in Narail, Natore, Khagrachhari, and Thakurgaon open temporary campuses and operate academic activities under DUET to guarantee 100% admission opportunities for polytechnic and monotechnic graduates starting from the next session.
