Polytechnic students hold sit-in protest in front of High Court

Students from Dhaka’s polytechnic institutions are staging a human chain and sit-in demonstration in front of the High Court to demand the scrapping of the verdict delivered in a writ petition filed by craft instructors.

The protest began on Sunday morning and continued into the afternoon.

Leaders of Karigori Chhatra Andolon Bangladesh, the platform leading the demonstrations, said that protest marches and human chain demonstrations wree also being held across the country.

Md Mashfik Islam Dewan, a student from the Dhaka Polytechnic Institute and representative for the protest platform, said: “The appeal hearing on the verdict regarding the promotion of craft instructors is underway. The Appellate Division has already suspended the verdict. We have learnt that it is now being heard ahead of a final decision. We are conducting the previously announced human chain and sit-in demonstrations until we hear the final verdict.”

"We hope that the Appellate Division will overturn the verdict delivered by the High Court. We are waiting for it."

Polytechnic students, who have long been pushing for the fulfilment of their six-point charter of demands, attracted attention after taking to the streets on Apr 16.

After staging demonstrations for about a week, the education ministry formed a committee to draft an implementation plan, prompting the students to suspend their movement.

The very next day, they reversed the decision and announced a continuation of their protests.

Although the students agreed on May 7 to relax their shutdown programme and resume classes, they declared a boycott of form fill-ups and exams.

The students’ demands include:

-- Cancellation of the High Court verdict on the promotion of craft instructors to junior instructor posts, along with a change of designation for craft instructors and permanent dismissal of all those involved in the related case.

-- Immediate annulment of the recruitment rules for the controversial 2021 appointment of craft instructors, cancellation of those appointments following a proper investigation, and disciplinary action against craft instructors linked to the legal proceedings.

-- Continuation of the four-year diploma engineering course, with a modern curriculum and syllabus aligned with international standards.

-- Restriction of applications for the post of sub-assistant engineer and equivalent (10th grade) only to those who have completed a four-year Diploma-in-Engineering or Monotechnology (Surveying) course, with preservation of this quota.

-- A minimum salary of Tk 16,000, equivalent to the basic pay of 10th grade, for diploma-holding engineers working in the private sector.