Students of Dhaka Polytechnic Institute staged a road blockade at the busy Sat Rasta intersection in the capital’s Tejgaon industrial area on Wednesday (September 17), pressing home a seven-point demand. The blockade, which began around 11 a.m., brought traffic in and around Sat Rasta to a standstill.
The protesters alleged that technical education has long been neglected and diploma engineers are being deprived of their due rights in the engineering sector. As a result, they said, they were compelled to take to the streets.
Their demands include cancellation of the illegal promotion of craft instructors to junior instructor positions and dismissal of those involved, amendment of the controversial 2021 recruitment policy, abolishing the provision for age-limit-free enrollment in diploma engineering courses, and introduction of a modern four-year curriculum. They also demanded reserved positions for diploma engineers in the 10th-grade sub-assistant engineer post, appointment of technically educated individuals in all administrative positions of the technical education sector, formation of an independent Ministry of Technical Education, establishment of a Technical Education Reform Commission, creation of specialized technical universities for higher education, and ensuring 100% enrollment at newly built engineering colleges.
The day before, on Tuesday (September 16), students had brought out a procession from Dhaka Polytechnic, which marched to Sat Rasta and staged a half-hour-long demonstration, slowing down traffic in the area. Wednesday’s blockade, however, caused even more severe disruption to vehicular movement.