The Bangladesh Nationalist Party-backed teachers at Rajshahi University on Friday demanded the expulsion of the students involved in assaulting their colleagues on September 20.
The leaders of the University Teachers鈥� Association of Bangladesh, at a press conference in the Jubery Building on the campus, also urged the university authorities to disqualify the accused students from participating in the upcoming elections to the university central students鈥� union, and take legal actions against them.
UTAB鈥檚 RU chapter president Professor Mamunur Rashid said that the assault on teachers and officials on the campus was extremely disgraceful and unprecedented.
鈥業f proper measures are not taken against the accused, the teachers鈥� community will be compelled to launch a tougher movement, even an indefinite complete shutdown,鈥� he said.
He also urged the university authorities to take measures to ensure the safety and dignity of the teachers, and to create a conducive atmosphere for the RUCSU elections.
The UTAB leaders made the demands a day after another BNP-backed teachers鈥� platform Jatiyatabadi Shikkhak Forum on Thursday postponed their complete shutdown programme that had kept all academic and administrative activities suspended for the past five days.
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 September 20, students opposing the reinstatement scuffled with the teachers and staff, leaving several people injured.
Amid protests, the authorities suspended admissions under the ward quota on September 21 and the syndicate later formed two probe committees to investigate the incident.
That night, the Jatiyatabadi Shikkhak Forum announced an indefinite shutdown, demanding reinstatement of the ward quota and exemplary punishment for those allegedly involved in the assault of teachers and officials.
On September 21, 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.
On January 2, the university, in the face of student protests, abolished the ward quota.
In August, a section of teachers, officers and employees launched a movement demanding reinstatement of the facility, leading the authorities to restore it on September 18.
