Students of a high school boycotted classes and staged demonstrations in protest against the school’s managing committee on charges of corruption at Kashiani upazila in Gopalganj on Sunday.
They threw bamboo and bricks on the Gopalganj-Tungipara road around 10am while chanting slogans against the managing committee demanding its cancellation immediately.
Police rushed to the spot around 11am and were able to clear them off the road and also talked the students into entering their campus. As soon as they entered the campus, the students again began chanting slogans against the managing committee.
Swarnakali High School’s Class X student Md Badrul Alam said they had, under the banner of Students-Guardians Anti-Corruption Committee, filed a complaint with the deputy commissioner against the managing committee on July 13.
According to the complaint, the managing committee took extra admission fees, monthly payments and exam fees by deceiving them. They had also pocketed all the money that came from selling off 14 trees on the campus.
They made the students buy sub-standard English grammar and other guide books from one of their colleague’s library just for the sake of pocketing commission on sale
The committee also misused Tk50 lakh in the construction of a building on the school premises since they used low-quality construction materials in it.
A total of 16 corruptions and irregularities, including those mentioned above, have been noted in the complaint.
The deputy commissioner assigned Kashiani Upazila Secondary Education Officer Md Abdur Rahim to investigate the matter.
Denying the allegations, Managing Committee Chairman Sheikh Lutfar Rahman Bachchu said: “A vested quarter is trying to create unrest on the campus in the name of such complaints.”
Investigation officer Rahim on Tuesday last went to the school and talked to one of the five complainant students and a managing committee member at a room of the school in a bid to investigate the allegations stated in the complaint with the deputy commissioner.
The situation soon took a turn for the worse as both the student and the managing committee member got embroiled in a heated argument.
The school authorities called up police who rushed in and arrested four persons, including students, around 11am, prompting hundreds of students to take to the streets. Sensing that the situation might go beyond control, they soon released all the four arrested persons.
The school was announced shut around noon for that day. Even after that, the students continued their demonstrations. Extra police force was then deployed on the school premises.
Investigation Officer Rahim left the school, halting his investigation.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune yesterday, he said: “I have postponed my investigation work since there was unrest on the day that I went to investigate the allegation. I will soon start investigating the matter.”
