Students of the University of Chittagong (CU) locked the administrative building, demanding a housing allowance as an alternative to resolving the housing crisis, turning the campus into a tense state.
On Sunday, the protesting students hung a lock on the administrative building, placing a five-point demand.
Earlier, at 1pm, they held a sit-in program in front of the administrative building.
They demand that every student must be provided with housing in the halls or an equivalent allowance. They also stated that the lock on the administrative building will not be removed until their demands are fulfilled.
Mahfuz, a student of the Department of Sports Sciences at the university, said: “Although CU is one of the largest campuses in the country, there are not enough halls for students. If the administration wants, it can allocate government budget and construct multi-storied halls. However, there is a lack of goodwill in this regard. Among the four autonomous universities in the country, CU ranks last in terms of budget and housing facilities.”
The students’ five-point demands are:
- Ensuring 100% housing for students and immediately publishing a plan to construct modern multi-storied halls
- Providing adequate housing allowance to non-residential students until the housing crisis is resolved
- Creating a list of students illegally staying in halls and canceling their seats and evicting them from the halls
- Ending the practice of charging Tk100 for hall applications, and refunding money to students who did not get a seat
- Abolishing the doubling practice in female halls while implementing the decar bed system.
Regarding this, CU Registrar Professor Dr Mohammrd Saiful Islam said: “We are never indifferent to students’ demands. We try to find solutions through discussion. However, the students have hung a lock on the administrative building without any ultimatum or dialogue.”
