Students of Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology on Tuesday blocked the Dhaka-Rajshahi highway in Rajshahi for pressing home their three-point demand.
At about 4:30pm, they blocked the highway at Saheb Bazar Zero Point area in the city and held a rally there, causing massive suffering to passengers and transport operators.
Over 200 students from several colleges joined the rally, expressing solidarity with the protesting students.
Their demands include recruitment for the post of assistant engineer must be conducted directly through government recruitment exams without any promotional quota; sub-assistant engineer posts should be open exclusively to BSc engineering graduates with the existing diploma-holder quota abolished;聽and restriction must be put on the use of the title 鈥榚ngineer鈥�.
Addressing the rally, RUET civil engineering professor Md Akhtar Hossain said that they shed their blood on the streets and sacrificed their lives during the July uprising with the aim of building a society free from discrimination.
鈥楤ut, even after one year of the mass uprising, we see the engineering students are being victims of discrimination in getting government jobs,鈥� he said, urging the government to come up with a quick solution to resolve the ongoing problems.
Alamin Islam Rocky, one of the agitating students, said that diploma engineering degree holders were conspiring to destroy the engineering sector.
鈥楾heir demand is nothing but the last nail in the coffin of the engineering sector. If implemented, true merit will be ignored in both education and employment. We have long raised our voice to save the engineering sector, but the government鈥檚 silence has left us frustrated,鈥� he said.
Another protester Mehran Al Banna Yousha alleged that the government had gave in to the 鈥榮yndicate鈥� of diploma engineering degree holders.
鈥業f our just demands are not met, we will be forced to intensify our movement,鈥� he said.
The students ended their rally at about 6:15pm and marched towards the RUET campus.