Over 200 teachers, including the vice-chancellor of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), were confined by students of two faculties over the unfulfilled demand for a “combined degree.”
On Sunday around 1pm, the protesting students locked the teachers inside the Zainul Abedin Auditorium of the university. As of 6pm, the latest reports indicated that the teachers were still confined.
The students, from the Faculty of Animal Husbandry and the Faculty of Veterinary Science, are demanding a combined BSc degree in Veterinary and Animal Husbandry. An Academic Council meeting was held at 11am on Sunday in the same auditorium, where it was decided to introduce the combined degree while continuing the separate Animal Husbandry and Veterinary programs.
The protesting students, however, have rejected the decision to maintain all three programs.
Professor Asaduzzaman Sarker, general secretary of the University Teachers’ Association, said the Academic Council unanimously accepted the students’ demand for a combined degree in response to the protests by the Faculty of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science.
A four-member committee, led by the convener of the Dean’s Council, has been formed to design the curriculum for the combined program. From the next academic session, 150 students will be admitted to the combined course. For the current session, admitted students will have the option to choose either Veterinary, Animal Husbandry, or the combined degree. Under university law, the two faculties cannot be merged. Instead, they will jointly offer the combined degree, with the position of dean alternating between the faculties.
Students have been holding protests demanding the combined degree since July 25.
Tahmina Akter, a third-year student of the Faculty of Animal Husbandry, said: “Our demand was for a single degree, which is the combined degree. The teachers’ decision does not fulfill our demand. This sit-in will continue until our demand is met.”
Second-year student Mira said: “We have been boycotting classes and exams for 36 consecutive days for this movement. We are observing that in all sectors, preference is being given to the combined degree in employment. The teachers now want to maintain three degrees, which will cause more problems in the future. Our only demand is that one profession should have one degree.”