Pabna University of Science and Technology
Students on fresh agitation
Students of Pabna University of Science and Technology agitate on the under construction campus after boycotting their classes to press for their eight-point demand yesterday. Inset, the demonstrators block Pabna-Dhaka highway.Photo: STAR
The students of Pabna University of Science and Technology yesterday started indefinite class boycott programme to realise their eight-point demand including extension of registration validity and easing criteria for promotion to the next session. The agitating students locked the university's temporary academic building at the Teachers Training College campus at Rajapur in Pabna in the morning, keeping a number of staffs of the university and the college inside. They also put barricade at Rajapur point of Dhaka-Pabna highway for an hour at noon and vandalised a few vehicles there. At a rally in the under-construction university campus, students announced their demands that include introduction of 'short semester system' for promotion, amendment to present GPA (Grade Point Average) system, cancellation of results published according to the running GPA system, eight years' registration validity instead of present six years, recruitment of experienced teachers, construction of university campus hurriedly, and end to ill-treatment by the teachers. "If any student fails to get minimum GPA-2 point he will not be promoted to the next session and lose a year from his academic carrier. Due to the whimsical rule, at least 10 students lost their academic career and 15 to 20 students of different departments are facing the same situation. The newly published semester result shows that over a hundred students failed and a few of them failed for the second time," said Md Baki Billah, a student of the university. Students at the rally said that they will continue class boycott until their demands are met. Md Kamruzzaman, proctor of the university, said, "Following the order from the vice chancellor, I along with the teachers of different departments went to talk with the students. Declining to hold any conversation, they insisted on fulfilling their demands." “A few students who did not pass in the examinations instigated other students to join demonstration, hampering academic activities at the university,” he said. Contacted, Prof Dr Mozaffar Hossain, vice chancellor of the university, said, "In consistence with grading and promotion system of other universities, the Regent Board of Pabna University of Science and Technology approved every rule including the provision of minimum GPA-2 for promotion and six-year registration validity for four-year courses. Most of the students' demands are illogical. Still we have formed an inquiry team headed by Rashed Kabir, head of mathematics department, to consider the demands." The vice chancellor urged the agitating students to join classes. Additional police have been deployed in the university area.
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