The Students of polytechnic institutes in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country held rallies in their respective areas as they continued their protests for the fifth day on Sunday to press home their six-point demand and protest at the attack on students in Cumilla. 聽
The protesters, from their rallies at places in the country, threatened to hold long marches towards Dhaka if their demands were not met within the next 48 hours.
Their six-point demands include the cancelation of a High Court verdict that allows the promotion of craft instructors to junior instructors.
In Dhaka, several hundred students from different government and private polytechnic institutes including Dhaka Polytechnic Institute and Dhaka Mahila Polytechnic Institute gathered near Statistics Bhaban in the capital鈥檚 Agargaon area at about 11:00am.
The students began a rally blocking one way of the two-way road there at about 12:00 noon. They held the rally for about one hour and 15 minutes.
A good number of police personnel and Coast Guard members were deployed there.
Addressing the rally, Karigori Chhatra Andolan Bangladesh representative Mishanur Rahman urged the government to accept their demands within the next 48 hours.
鈥業f the government fails to accept our demands within 48 hours, students of all polytechnic institutes will hold long marches towards Dhaka from different corners of the country,鈥� said Mishanur.
Karigori Chhatra Andolan Bangladesh鈥檚 central representative Mashfiq Islam said that they would hold tougher programmes like 鈥楤angla Blockade鈥� or 鈥榣ong marches鈥�, if necessary.
鈥榃e will inform our next programmes through Facebook posts after consulting with the current and former polytechnic students,鈥� he added.
The protesting students鈥� representatives said that they had been staging protests for the past eight months to press home their six demands but the government was yet to give them any assurance to fulfill their demands.
Dhaka Mahila Polytechnic Institute student Tanisha Azmin Pritha said that they would not sit for any examination until their demands were met.
The students of Bogura Government Polytechnic Institute blocked Banani-Satmatha road in front of their institute for more than one hour since 11:00am.
Commuters had to suffer immensely as the blockade on one of the lanes of the two-lane road created severe traffic congestion in the city.
Bogura Sadar police station officer-in-charge SM Moinuddin said that the road was one of the most important roads in the town.
抖阴精品 Staff Correspondent in Sylhet reported that the students of Sylhet Polytechnic Institute also held a rally in front of Central Shaheed Minar at the Chowhatta area in the city Sunday noon as part of their countrywide programme.
Speakers in the rally said that the main goal of their movement was to attract the attention of the government high-ups for the implementation of their reasonable demands within a shortest possible time.
The protesters alleged that though the deputy assistant engineers and 10th-grade posts in the government, autonomous and private organisations were designated for polytechnic students, many organisations were appointing diploma engineers in lower-grade posts.
They urged the government to take legal action against the organisations that are appointing diploma engineers in posts lower than the 10th grade.
They demanded the formation of a technical and higher education ministry and a technical education reform commission for their cause.
They also demanded a ban on appointing people having no technical education background as assistant directors, directors, board chairpersons, deputy secretaries, examination controllers and principals for running technical education.