Student protesters yesterday called off what had been described as a “fast unto death” to demand fresh medical and dental college admission tests.
Protester Tanzira Biswas Tandra told the Dhaka Tribune that a group of seven well-known public figures, including Syed Abul Muksud and Anu Mohammad, requested the students to withdraw their hunger strike over the leaking of medical and dental college admission exam questions.
The public intellectuals assured protesters that they would conduct a “people’s investigation” on October 19 to weigh the claims and evidence brought by protesters regarding the alleged exam question leak.
The situation was becoming increasingly grim yesterday, the second day of the hunger strike, as 10 out of 50 strikers at the Central Shaheed Minar fell ill.
One of the coordinators of the student movement, Mohaiminul Neon, said: “The sick students were given saline … two were sent to their residences because their condition had deteriorated.”
The mood yesterday was one of increasing frustration, with many guardians requesting the prime minister to get involved.
Guardian Shahida Khatun asked the prime minister to intervene, saying: “Where will we go and what will we do if the prime minister and health minister want to hide the question leak issue?”
Until the decision to withdraw the hunger strike was made around 7:15pm, protesting students showed no signs of giving up, with one protester declaring: “We will not go home until we get results … we will protest until we are dead.”
The growing desperation of the situation spurred the intervention by the public figures.
Prospective medical and dental students have been demonstrating since admission tests, held on September 19, were called into question following widespread reports of question papers being leaked on social media.