Polytechnic students warn of long march over demands

Polytechnic students, under the banner of Karigori Chhatro Andolon, have announced an indefinite class boycott until their six-point charter of demands is met. Their demands include cancelling a 30% promotion quota for craft instructors to junior instructor posts.

At a rally held in front of the Dhaka Women’s Polytechnic Institute in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar on Saturday, they issued a 48-hour ultimatum, threatening a long march towards Dhaka from all districts if the demands are ignored.

The protest drew students from nearly 20 public and private polytechnic institutes across the capital. Carrying placards and chanting slogans, they formed small processions before gathering at the rally venue.

The students’ key demands also include revoking the “controversial” 2021 appointment of craft instructors, scrapping open-age admissions in Diploma in Engineering courses, legally reserving 10th-grade (sub-assistant engineer) posts for diploma engineers, and ensuring that only candidates with technical education backgrounds can be appointed to relevant posts.

They further demanded the establishment of a separate Ministry of Technical and Higher Education, formation of a Technical Education Reform Commission, and the creation of a quality technical university.

The students said they had been protesting peacefully for months, but repeated meetings with authorities had yielded no results.

“We’ve been raising our six demands since last September. Despite several meetings, nothing has been implemented,” said Mahiyan Islam, co-coordinator of the movement.

On Thursday, students organised torch processions, followed by symbolic funeral marches on Friday. On Friday night, they issued a statement explaining that the rally’s goal was to highlight their demands without causing public inconvenience.

Yesterday, they launched a campaign titled “Rise in Red”, covering nameplates of their institutions with red cloth as a form of protest.

Zubayer Patwari, another organiser, said they had planned district-wide rallies on Saturday but instead held a single central rally in the capital. He added that a larger nationwide event would be announced if the government fails to respond within the deadline.