Students of North South University (NSU) on Sunday held a protest in front of their campus in the Bashundhara residential area of Dhaka, placing six-point demands including a 30% tuition fee waiver.
Around 250 students of NSU demonstrated in front of the university main gate from 4pm to 7:30pm to press home their demands regarding the upcoming semester, scheduled to start from October 22.
During the protest, Vice-Chancellor Prof Atiqul Islam, 200 teachers, and other staff were confined to the campus for three hours.
The students said they would stage another demonstration in front of the university gate at 10am on Monday if the demands are not accepted.
AH Lutful Hassan, registrar of the university, told Dhaka Tribune: “The university will announce their decision regarding the students’ demands before the new semester commences.”
Five representatives from the agitating students who were in talks with the authorities alleged that the authorities threatened them to make them relax their demonstrations.
One of the students, asking for anonymity, told Dhaka Tribune the university had decided to waive 20% tuition fees last semester, in response to the demands of students during the coronavirus pandemic. Other private universities also waived 20% tuition fees.
However, NSU authorities then cancelled the facility without any notice, even though the pandemic continues.
“Later, we tried to contact the authorities regarding the issue, but they did not respond. Now, we have been forced to start a movement,” the student said.
The students claimed they have been asked to pay TK9,500 per month from next semester for lab and library facilities, even though they are not using the facilities at present.
The students fear the authorities will demand full fees from the students in the new semester.
Some of the other demands of the students include 100% waiver for financially distressed students, waiver of additional fees with semester fees, and to pay salaries to teachers, officials, and employees.
