The Bangladesh Nationalist Party-backed teachers at Rajshahi University on Thursday suspended their complete shutdown programme that had kept all academic and administrative activities suspended for the past five days.
Jatiyatabadi Shikkhak Forum president Professor Abdul Alim announced the decision at a press briefing on the campus after a meeting with the university administration.
鈥榃e are suspending our complete shutdown as the vice-chancellor has verbally assured us of meeting our demands as soon as possible,鈥� he said.
He warned that they would go for a tougher movement if their demands were not met.
The strike was suspended at a time when most students had already left the campus due to the suspension of classes, the rescheduling of the university鈥檚 central students鈥� union polls, and the upcoming six-day Durga Puja vacation, beginning on Monday.
The current crisis began on September 18, when the university reinstated the ward quota facility, allowing children of teachers, officers and employees admission privileges in undergraduate courses under 鈥榠nstitutional facilities.鈥� The move sparked immediate student protests.
On Saturday, students opposing the reinstatement scuffled with teachers and staff, leaving several injured.
Amid protests, the authorities suspended admissions under the ward quota early Sunday and the syndicate later formed two probe committees to investigate the incident.
That night, the Jatiyatabadi Shikkhak Forum announced an indefinite shutdown, demanding exemplary punishment for those allegedly involved in the assault of teachers and officials and reinstatement of the ward quota.
On Sunday, officials and employees joined the strike with teachers, paralysing all activities and forcing the RUCSU election commission to defer the long-awaited elections to the RUCSU, hall unions, and Senate student representative to October 16 from September 25.
Although officials and employees withdrew their shutdown on Wednesday, giving the administration a seven-day ultimatum to punish those responsible for the assault and to withdraw the suspension of admissions under the institutional quota, the BNP-backed teachers continued their strike until Thursday.
On January 2, the university, in the face of student protests, abolished the ward quota.
In August, however, a section of teachers, officers and employees launched a movement demanding reinstatement of the facility, leading the authorities to restore it on September 18.
