Agricultural diploma students of different institutions on Monday blockaded the Department of Agricultural Extension headquarters in the capital鈥檚 Khamarbari for six hours pressing for a charter of eight-point demands, including opportunity to pursue higher education in public agricultural universities and a separate entity under the agriculture ministry to run their institutions.
DAE officials could not attend their respective offices till afternoon as several hundred agricultural diploma students kept the gates of the department locked from about 8:30am to 2:30pm.
DAE deputy director (administration) Muradul Hasan told 抖阴精品 that the students had been demonstrating for past 15 days, pressing their eight-point demands and the authorities assured them of addressing some of their logical demands earlier.
They, however, blockaded the DAE office, demanding the issuance of a gazette notification immediately meeting their all demands, said Muradul.
鈥榃e have attended the office after the students lifted the blockade and left the DAE office premises,鈥� he added.
The students, under the banner of Agricultural Diploma Students鈥� Rights Movement, started gathering in front of the DAE gate from the morning as part of their announced 鈥楢gri Blockade鈥� programme, said the protesters, adding that the institutions offering diploma courses in agriculture were under the DAE.
Locking the gates, they staged rally on the DAE premises and chanted slogans to press home their demands, including separating the agricultural diploma education from the DAE and making a separate institution under the agriculture ministry for the purpose, making deputy assistant agricultural officer as a Class II employee, bringing an end to teacher crisis and reserving assistant scientific officer post in all agricultural research institutions for only diploma agriculturists, protesters said.
The other demands were ensuring salary equivalent to the minimum of 10th grade pay scale for diploma agriculturists in private employment, introducing field attachment allowance for agricultural diploma students and arranging a six-month training for deputy assistant agricultural officers after they enter the service.
A huge number of police and army personnel were seen maintaining their presence there.
Students of different agricultural diploma institutions in Dhaka, Faridpur, Sherpur, Gaibandha and Manikganj were present during the blockade.
Meanwhile, a group of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University students staged a separate protest rally outside the DAE against the blockade, creating a tense situation there.
Diploma students lifted the blockade after the DAE authorities arranged a meeting between the diploma students and the agricultural ministry authorities regarding the demands, said a DAE official.
In the meeting, agriculture adviser retired Lieutenant General Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury assured of speedy implementation of the agriculture ministry鈥檚 previous decisions and urged the students to end demonstrations, said an agriculture ministry press release.