Polytechnic students to sit with govt, blockade program called off

After holding a day-long blockade on Wednesday to press home their six-point demands, polytechnic students are going to sit with the government at the intervention of the chief adviser today.

As a result, ‘railway blockade’ programme previously announced by them across the country will remain relaxed.

The students will hold meeting with Education Adviser Prof Dr Chowdhury Rafiqul Abrar at the Secretariat on Thursday (April 17).

This was confirmed in a statement sent by the ‘Technical Student Movement, Bangladesh’ to the media this morning.

The statement said, “Following the intervention of the chief adviser and an invitation from the education adviser, representatives of the ‘Technical Student Movement, Bangladesh’ have agreed to join a meeting today. As per decisions taken by all polytechnic institutes, the ongoing railway blockade will be relaxed during the meeting.”

“The next course of action for polytechnic institutes across the country will be announced based on the outcomes of the discussion,” the statement added.

The six-point demands placed by the polytechnic students include the transfer of “controversial craft instructors” recruited after 2021, ensuring four years of education in the diploma engineering course, and making each semester a full term of six months.

They further demanded that no one other than diploma engineers be allowed to apply for the post of deputy assistant engineer (10th grade), and that the post of deputy assistant engineer and other equivalent positions be reserved exclusively for diploma engineers.