Students at Rajshahi University (RU) have expressed dissatisfaction with Vice Chancellor Professor Saleh Hasan Naqib’s executive order suspending admissions under the ward quota.
On Sunday, they announced that their sit-in program would continue until an emergency syndicate meeting was convened that very night to permanently abolish the quota.
Consequently, students staged a sit-in at the main gate of the vice chancellor’s residence late into the night.
Earlier, at around 1:45am on Sunday, the vice chancellor appeared before the protesting students and said: “By my executive order, I have suspended the admission process under the institutional facility (ward quota). A decision on the matter will be taken tomorrow (Sunday) at an emergency syndicate meeting.”
The students immediately rejected the announcement, declaring that they would continue their protest until the syndicate meeting was held the same night and the ward quota was permanently abolished.
According to sources, protests had intensified since Thursday evening, when the university administration reinstated the ward quota at an emergency academic meeting.
General students, along with former conveners and leaders of political student organizations, launched demonstrations that continued until 11pm that day.
On Friday, following Jummah prayers, students staged further protests, after which several began a hunger strike demanding abolition of the quota.
After fasting through the night, on Saturday at around 2:30pm, students burned tires in front of the administrative building.
At 3:30pm, they laid siege to the vice chancellor’s residence, at one point intercepting the pro-vice chancellor’s vehicle and throwing money at it.
They later padlocked the residence of Pro-Vice Chancellor (Administration) Professor Moin Uddin Khan.
As he was unable to enter his residence, Professor Khan, accompanied by Proctor Mahbubur Rahman and others, attempted to enter the Juberi Building but faced resistance from students once again.
During the scuffle between students, officials, staff, and teachers, several students and journalists sustained injuries.
It may be recalled that on January 2 of this year, Vice Chancellor Professor Saleh Hasan Naqib announced the abolition of the ward quota in the face of student protests.
Since then, teachers, officials, and employees have launched a series of movements, arguing that the quota constituted an institutional benefit.
Most recently, on Wednesday, they issued a letter declaring that if their demands were not met by the 18th, they would begin an indefinite full-day work stoppage from Wednesday.
In response, the university administration convened an emergency academic committee meeting on Thursday, where it decided to reinstate the ward quota under 10 conditions.