Dhaka University students on Friday issued an ultimatum demanding cancellation of the affiliation of seven colleges with the DU within 72 hours.
They also threatened to lock all academic buildings of the university if their demand was not met.
The university students under the banner of ‘Movement for cancellation of seven-college affiliation’ came up with the announcement at a protest rally in front of the DU vice-chancellor residence.
The students chanted slogans such as ‘Direct action against affiliation’ and ‘Cancel affiliation, free DU’.
Ashikur Islam, a student of the Department of Political Science said that they informed the university administration that the seven colleges should be separated.
But the administration has not responded, they added.
Referring to chief adviser’s press secretary Shafiqul Alam, who said that the colleges would remain affiliated with the DU and separate buildings would be built on the campus for the seven college students, Ashikur Islam said, ‘We want to make it clear that if any construction takes place on the DU campus, it should only be for female residence halls and not for anything else.’
The protest rally was followed by a protest profession that paraded different roads on the campus.
The students said that they first staged protest demanding cancellation of the affiliation of the seven colleges back in 2019.
Their demand, however, was not accepted by the then government of Sheikh Hasina and the then vice-chancellor, professor Akhtaruzzaman.
At the rally, they questioned how the university authorities could think of constructing separate buildings for the seven colleges on the campus when there were no sufficient residence halls for DU female students.
Clarifying Dhaka University’s stance, Dhaka University Public Relations Office on Friday issued a press release.
In the press release, they stated that the University of Dhaka had become aware of the advisory council’s decision through reports published in various media outlets.
There has been no formal discussion between the University of Dhaka authorities and the ministry regarding the proposal before, the press release read.
The release further said that the university authorities immediately discussed it with relevant honorable advisers and various senior government officials with utmost importance.
The government has agreed to organise an urgent meeting at the ministry level as soon as possible involving the relevant students and key stakeholders, the release said.
The release said that the university authorities believed that further discussions on this matter involving students of the seven government colleges and the University of Dhaka, as well as other key stakeholders, were necessary.
A sustainable and peaceful solution can be reached through dialogue and discussion, the release added.