RU students give 24-hr ultimatum for hall reopening

Rajshahi University students staged demonstrations for the 2nd consecutive day on Sunday and give a 24-hour ultimatum to the authorities concerned for reopening of all the dormitories of the university, reports UNB. 

They brought a procession from behind the central library of the university and staged demonstrations in front of the Vice Chancellor’s residence.

They also threatened to go for a tougher movement unless the university authorities open the residential halls within 24 hours.

Addressing the protest rally, Islamic History and Culture department student Mahmud Saki said, “Jahangirnagar University students started unlocking the main gates of their residential halls but we haven’t yet done such thing. That does not mean that we will not do such thing.”

“Everything has become normal across the country except academic activities at public universities. School, college students are getting auto-promotion, private universities started taking exams long ago, the national university is also started taking exams. But we are deprived of education facilities during the last one year. We want reopening of campus and residential halls as early as possible,” he also said.

“We can’t reopen the campus and halls without government order. We will take steps to reopen halls after getting government clearance,” RU proctor professor Lutfor Rahman told UNB.

Demonstrations at JU

Jahangirnagar University students on Saturday unlocked the main gate of a dormitory as the authorities ‘did not take’ any step to fulfill their 3-point demand, including hall reopening.

A procession of students protesting Friday’s attack on them by some residents of an adjacent village reached Fazilatunnesa Mujib Hall around 12:30 pm and unlocked the gate.

They also threatened to take control of other halls and go for a tougher movement if their demands are not met.

Prof Motahar Hossain, president of JU Hall Provosts Committee, said: “We can’t reopen the varsity halls defying the government’s decision.”

On Friday, several students of the university were injured in an attack by the residents of a village adjacent to the campus.

JU’s acting Proctor ASM Firoz Ul Hasan said the clash erupted following a dispute over a cricket match.

Four motorcycles belonging to the students were set ablaze by locals at Gerua Bazar in the evening. Later, locals gathered in the area responding to an announcement from a mosque’s loudspeaker and attacked the students.

Proctor Hasan said some students were confined to their mess-house at Gerua village.

Closure of educational institutions

On March16 last year, the government closed all the educational institutions to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The closure was extended several times, most recently until February 28 this year.

Covid situation in Bangladesh

Bangladesh recorded 350 more Covid-19 infections in 24 hours until early Saturday.

With the new cases, some 543,024 people have so far been tested positive for the virus in the country since the first cases were detected in March, 2020.

The daily infection rate rose to 3.14%, which was 2.85% on Friday and 2.68% on Thursday.

Also, the country saw five new Covid-19 deaths, taking the national tally to 8,342, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said.