Staff Reporter :
After staging road blockades in Dhaka and other parts of the country throughout Wednesday, students of public and private polytechnic institutes announced a nationwide rail blockade for Thursday to press home their six-point demands.
The announcement was made in the evening by Zubayer Patwary, a representative of the Technical Students’ Movement, from Tejgaon’s busy Satrasta intersection.
Although Wednesday’s road blockade was called off in the evening, Zubayer said the agitation would continue in new forms. “We are now preparing to block the railway communication network across the country as part of our next course of action,” he declared, urging polytechnic students nationwide to join the programme.
Earlier in the day, students met with the Director General of the Directorate of Technical Education, Shoaib Ahmed Khan, and the principal of Dhaka Polytechnic Institute, among others. However, the meeting ended without resolution as no written assurance was given to address the students’ demands. “That is why we are going forward with the nationwide rail blockade tomorrow,” Zubayer said.
Vehicular movement in the capital was thrown into chaos on Wednesday when demonstrators blocked the Saat Rasta intersection from 10:30am, disrupting traffic toward Uttara, Gulistan, and Sayedabad for hours. Thousands of commuters were stranded, with many forced to walk long distances.
Traffic police attempted to negotiate with the protesters and later issued alternative route directives, but congestion persisted until evening when the blockade was lifted.
The capital’s Satrasta intersection turned chaotic again on Wednesday as polytechnic students, joined by their peers from technical schools, colleges, and institutions under the Bangladesh Technical Education Board, staged fresh protests. The blockade once more paralysed traffic, leaving office-goers stuck and commuters struggling to reach their destinations.
Protesting students alleged that an influential syndicate was deliberately undermining technical education to marginalise polytechnic graduates. They accused authorities of discrimination in both higher education and employment opportunities.
“A powerful syndicate has captured the technical education system. They are closing our paths. We will not tolerate this injustice anymore,” one student said, vowing to continue demonstrations until demands were fulfilled.
Tejgaon Industrial Police Station Officer-in-Charge Aslam Hossain confirmed that students occupied the intersection from 10:30am and reiterated the same demands raised in previous protests. “Police are closely monitoring the situation to maintain law and order,” he said.
The six demands include recognition of technical education, equal opportunities for polytechnic graduates in the engineering profession, removal of recruitment barriers by syndicates, elimination of discrimination in higher education, extension of government facilities to private polytechnic students, and full integration of technical education into the national development policy.
At the time of filing this report, students were still demonstrating peacefully at Satrasta, though vehicular movement remained suspended, causing severe gridlocks across the area.
Meanwhile, the government has formed a six-member committee to build consensus between BSc degree holders and diploma engineers who have been staging protests to press their demands.
Both groups have agreed to suspend their movement until the committee submits its report.
The decision was made following a meeting at the Secretariat yesterday, chaired by Road Transport and Bridges Adviser and head of the committee Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan.
The adviser said the diploma engineers have three main demands while BSc engineers have seven.
He said they sat with representatives from both groups and urged them to set aside their differences and build a bridge between them.
The meeting was attended by university vice-chancellors, principals of polytechnic institutes, and heads of other relevant institutions.
The adviser said some of the demands are directly contradictory.
“If one side’s demand is accepted, the other becomes dissatisfied. That’s why, instead of deciding on their own, they have formed a balanced committee with input from both sides,” he added.
The six-member committee includes representatives from the Institute of Engineers, a teacher of diploma engineering, and members from both the diploma and BSc engineering communities.
The committee will not have any chairman.
The issue of professional titles also came up during the meeting, but no decision has been made yet.
“Three suggestions were discussed. One idea is that BSc engineers would use ‘Engineer’ before their names while diploma engineers would use ‘Diploma Engineer’. Another proposal is that no prefixes would be used and qualifications would instead be mentioned after names. A third suggestion is that no titles would be used at all,” said the adviser.
Fouzul also said the lack of employment opportunities for engineers is the root issue.
As a first step, he has instructed the Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration to immediately begin filling vacant government posts.
In future, foreign companies working in Bangladesh on projects like bridges or power plants should be required to hire local engineers – both degree and diploma holders – in specific proportions, he said.
Fouzul stressed the importance of reducing dependency on foreign labour and making use of capable local professionals.
The comittee has already held three meetings and will continue discussions with heads of engineering organisations before finalising its report.
