BANGLADESH NEWS
Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said yesterday the Buet Teachers Association embarrassed him by postponing their demonstration for two days mentioning that they had taken this decision to show respect to him.
"They [the association] would have shown respect to me had they accepted the call we had made after the meeting [on Monday] with the ex-vice chancellors, deans and senior teachers. But, they had rejected that," he said.
The minister had urged the agitating teachers and students of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) to discontinue movement, saying that a solution was possible through discussions.
Addressing a hurriedly-called media briefing at the education ministry yesterday, Nahid said, "I don't find any reason but to embarrass me by saying that they have done [postponement] this to show respect to me,".
The minister's reaction came a day after the agitating teachers association postponed its demonstration for two days for what it said was "to show respect" to his initiative for resolving the ongoing crisis at Buet through negotiations.
Contacted yesterday, the association leaders however declined to comment on the minister's remarks, and said they had no alternative but to announce the decision of mass resignation of the teachers since the movement got momentum.
Nahid said yesterday, "As we figured out a way of solving the problem [at Buet] after taking opinions of the senior teachers, ex-VCs, and deans at Monday's meeting, the teachers' association at a counter meeting decided en masse resignation of all teachers, and such an extreme decision created barriers to a peaceful solution."
He noted that for a university, mass resignation of its teachers is an extreme decision on their part. In such a case, a university faces a deadlock and it is ruined.
"They [association] may consider me a fool, but people of the country are not fools. It is clear that they held the meeting just to announce a counter programme," the minister said.
"They can pay respect to all by withdrawing their extreme decision, and pave the way for a solution through discussion," he added.
Nahid said the prime minister also asked him why she would discuss [Buet issue] with him when the teachers had already taken up an extreme programme.
Replying to a question, he said, "We are trying relentlessly so that the institution can run without any problem. Let us see how it will run." But the teachers association, he said, should remove the "barriers" and help solve the problem.
Asked, Prof Ashraful Islam, general secretary of the association, said their programme was not a threat in any way nor did it have any other meaning.
"Since we are not getting any specific assurance from the government level for [meeting] our demand, we did not think it to be rational to backtrack from our movement that had got momentum," he said.
Besides, he said, they did not want the process to get prolonged, and gave the government six days to take a decision.
Prof Ashraful hoped that the government would take a quick decision by removing the VC and pro-VC.
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