Academic activities almost came to a halt in Jahangirnagar University as teachers went on two-day strike on Tuesday demanding resignation of the vice chancellor.
The teachers teamed up as Shikkhak Samaj observed the strike in protest at corruption, political recruitment of the vice-chancellor Shariff Enamul Kabir and his failure to ensure security on the campus.
Classes and examinations were not held in the most of the departments while administrative offices remained closed.
A number of teachers stood at different points on the campus in the morning and requested everyone to help them to observe the strike. They stopped university buses from leaving the campus. Many classrooms and administrative buildings were locked up.
A group of students under the banner of Sadharan Shikshatri Parisahd brought out a procession on the campus demanding that clashes should be held regularly. They held a rally where the teachers later gathered at at the registrar’s building.
The teachers alleged that vice-chancellor and Bangladesh Chhatra League leaders forced the students to bring out the procession.
They, however, said that most of the teachers and students were supporting their movement.
Some students said that Chhatra League leaders had forced the students to join the procession.
The general students said that they were worried about the current confrontation between the two groups of teachers.
Atia Fardausi Chaity, a 4th-year student of economic, said that she was worried about her studies as the situation was getting worse.
Zahid Hossain, another student, said that authorities should take immediate steps so that academic activities were not hampered.
Teachers have also been pushing for the same demands for more than three months.
In the initial stage, the protest was against political recruitment by the vice-chancellor. A new dimension was added to the teachers’ movement after the killing of Zubair Ahmed on the campus.
Zubair, a fourth-year student of English, was tortured by the Chhatra League activists on January 8 and he died from his injuries in United Hospital early January 9.
The activists are known to be members of a Chhatra League faction said to be loyal to the vice-chancellor.
Teachers have for long been alleging that vice-chancellor is backing some criminals and Chhatra League leaders who are responsible for the killing on the campus.
They said that they would continue with the protests until the vice-chancellor resigned.
‘The university will need to suffer for 35 years because of what the current vice-chancellor is doing by recruiting people loyal to him as teachers. We are trying to save the university by protest at such illegal activities,’ the Jahangirnagar University
Teachers’ Association president, AA Mamun, told New Age.
The Shikkhak Samaj convener, Nasim Akhtar Hossain, said that the vice-chancellor had recruited 200 teachers in three years and until three years ago, 200 teachers had been recruited since the journey of the university. ‘Most of the teachers recruited in the three years are loyal to the vice-chancellor. Most of them are recruited on political grounds.’
‘We will continue with our protests till the resignation of the university VC and a tough agitation programme will soon be announced,’ she said.
The vice-chancellor, Shariff Enamul Kabir, declined comments saying that he was at a meeting when he was approached.
The protests began in December 2011 against political recruitment of teachers in the university.
The teachers later, after the death of Zubair, were going ahead with their eight-point demands that included a judicial investigation of the killing, investigation of the administration’s irregularities and patronisation of criminals, investigating of the assault on the JUTA president AA Mamun by the then proctor Arju Miah, ensuring return of 200 students who were sent out from halls by the administration, an end to illegal recruitment, an end to plunder of natural resources in the university, decrease in admission and development fees and the institution of a vice-chancellor’s panel in line with the 1973 university order.
The teachers on March 15 started pushing for a single demand, the resignation of the vice-chancellor, with a 10-day fresh protest, which ends today.
The teachers earlier said that they would announce further agitation programmes, if the vice-chancellor does not resign, on March 31.
The proctor Arju Miah, meanwhile on January 16, resigned his position in the face continued protests by teachers and students concerning the death of
Zubair.