The teachers, officials, and employees of Rajshahi University on Tuesday continued their complete shutdown programme for the third consecutive day, demanding exemplary punishment for the students involved in assaulting their colleagues.
The Jatiyatabadi Teachers鈥� Forum and the university officers鈥� association enforced the shutdown by keeping all academic and administrative activities suspended.
As a result, classes and examinations remained halted on Tuesday for the third consecutive day.
A large number of students left the campus due to the shutdown.
Amid the deadlock, the university administration held a meeting with officers and employees to keep activities functional.
After the meeting, the university鈥檚 public relations office administrator Professor Akhtar Hossain Majumder told reporters that the administration urged the agitating officers and employees to withdraw their protest for the sake of the institution.
The agitating groups, however, staged a sit-in at Lichutala beside the administration building to press home their demands.
Addressing the sit-in, RU officers鈥� association president Muktar Hossain said that they were frustrated with the administration鈥檚 handling of the situation.
鈥榃e want to see tangible action against the perpetrators,鈥� he said.
Jatiyatabadi Teachers鈥� Forum president Professor Abdul Alim said that they would continue the shutdown until exemplary punishment was ensured.
Local residents under the banner of 鈥楳otiharer Sacheton Elakabashi鈥� also staged a demonstration at the university鈥檚 Kazla Gate, demanding punitive action against Salahuddin Ammar, a former coordinator of Students Against Discrimination and a general secretary candidate in the RUCSU elections, over the alleged assault of three teachers and officers.
Presided over by former RU employee Alamgir Hossain, the event was addressed, among others, by Kazla KD Club president Abdul Quddus and former Rajshahi City Corporation ward councillors Ashraful Islam and Ansar Ali.
The RU unit of the University Teachers鈥� Association of Bangladesh also placed a five-point demand, including permanent expulsion of those involved in the attack.
In a statement signed by its president Professor Mamunur Rashid and general secretary Professor Jahangir Hossain said that its members would abstain from all academic and administrative activities until the demands were met.
Amid the ongoing shutdown programme, the commission to the elections to the RUCSU, hall unions and senate student representative on Monday night deferred the election date to October 16 from September 25.
Md Eyadul Islam, a guard at Rahamatunnesa Hall, said that more than one hundred students had already left the hall in the past two days due to the ongoing complete shutdown programme.
The current crisis began on September 18, when the university authorities reinstated the ward quota facility, allowing children of teachers, officers, and employees admission benefits in undergraduate courses under 鈥榠nstitutional facilities, sparking widespread agitation.
On Saturday, students opposing the reinstatement scuffled with teachers and staff, leaving several injured and the pro-vice-chancellor (administration) Professor Mohammad Main Uddin confined at the teachers鈥� club for hours.
In response, a section of teachers, officials, and employees enforced the ongoing shutdown from Saturday night.
On Sunday, the syndicate suspended the ward quota and formed two probe committees 鈥撀� one internal and another judicial 鈥� to investigate Saturday鈥檚 incident.
On January 2, the university, in the face of student protests, abolished the ward quota.
In August, a section of teachers, officers and employees began a movement demanding the reinstatement of the facility.