Teachers inside, students from seven colleges protest outside – security tightened

Teachers from Dhaka College have occupied the campus demanding preservation of its independence. Teachers from Eden College have joined them. Outside, students from seven colleges have staged a sit-in at the gate demanding an ordinance for the proposed Central University. On Wednesday (3 December) around 2:30 pm, teachers and students were seen in a face-to-face standoff.

To avert any untoward situation, police closed the Dhaka College gate and positioned themselves in between. At the same time, a group of students from the Save Eden Protection Council blockaded the office of Dhaka College Principal and interim administrator of the Central University Professor AKM Elias.

Officer-in-charge of New Market Police Station EKM Mahfuzul Haque said teachers from two colleges are stationed inside Dhaka College, while students are outside. Police have been deployed to prevent any third party from complicating the situation. The step has been taken mainly to ensure everyone's safety.

Agitating student Mehedi Hasan, demanding the ordinance, said the capital's historic seven colleges have been emerging from long years of exploitation, deprivation and irregularities since last year by coming out from Dhaka University. In this context, the state decided through consultations to ensure a proper solution that a university structure named "Dhaka Central University" would be formed. The struggle has been ongoing for the past one and a half years as the state's promise has not been fulfilled.

He further said, "This year itself, a draft ordinance was issued in September. After that, some teachers from the seven colleges are not interested in providing proper education in the university cadre. Even though the state wanted to gift us an excellent university model for our welfare, the teachers are protesting against it, which is a very regrettable incident."

He added, "Today, amid our protest, they are deliberately creating chaos to bring teachers and students face-to-face and create a bad situation to take advantage. We will not fall into any trap set by the teachers."