BANGLADESH NEWS
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday asked Vice Chancellor Prof Nazrul Islam and Syndicate members of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) to continue talks with agitating teachers to bring an end to the ongoing impasse on the campus.
The VC said this to just after emerging from a meeting with the prime minister. The Buet delegation headed by Prof Nazrul went to the prime minister's official residence Gono Bhaban in the evening to discuss the deadlock.
Prof Nazrul earlier in the day described demands by agitating teachers as unethical. “If any of the points teachers raised against me is proved, I will step down. I cannot resign against unethical demands.”
The came up with the remarks at a press conference on the campus in the afternoon amid continued demonstration by the teachers of the university demanding his resignation.
Buet Teachers' Association, meanwhile, reiterated their determination to continue agitation to press home their 16-point demand that include mainly the resignation of the VC and Pro-VC.
Earlier in the day, the VC said that they want to meet the prime minister and then the president to discuss about the recent stalemate brewed from the demand of their resignation.
“I have sought for an appointment to the prime minister. I will see her as soon as I get the appointment. I will also seek for the appointment of the president,” Prof Nazrul told Thursday morning.
He also informed that he is waiting to discuss the ongoing impasse with Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid, who is off to Sylhet until Saturday.
Prof Mujibur Rahman, president of the association told , “Until and unless the vice-chancellor and pro-vice-chancellor are removed, we are going to go on with the sit-in agitation."
“If these two are retained in their offices, no negotiation will be fruitful to dissolve the stalemate”, he said, adding “Till now, no authorities have responded for a resolution.”
The association president's comments came a day after heads of all faculties, institutes and departments of Buet resigned en masse after the authorities declared a 44-day vacation amid teachers-students agitation on Tuesday.
The agitation reflects an expression of no-confidence on the university administration over “irregularities” in promotions and appointments.
Following the closure, agitating teachers and students have been staging a sit-in in front of the Buet administrative building from Wednesday.
Terming the VC’s announcement of the vacation “unilateral, arbitrary and illegal”, Prof Mujibur said, “The VC did this to foil the teacher-student agitation against academic and administrative anomalies.”
And this move of announcing vacation basically sparked the long-drawn resentment among the Buet community that led to the en masse resignation, he said.
Explaining why he termed the vacation as such, Prof Mujibur said, “The Buet academic calendar does not have such a long vacation. Segments of the 44-day vacation have been shown as ‘summer vacation’, ‘Ramadan vacation’ etcetera whereas Buet never enjoyed a ‘summer vacation’ in the past.”
He warned that only the academic council could make such alteration to the academic calendar, not the VC alone.
On queries, the VC said in the face of unavoidable circumstances, I have declared the vacation to evade any possible clash among the students.
The VC also claimed that he declared the vacation except the one for summer according to the academic calendar of the institute.
He also claimed that the university ordinance empowers him to declare summer vacation.
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