Staff Correspondent
Protesting with their three-point demand, engineering students have declared a “Complete Shutdown” across all engineering universities in the country on Thursday (28 August), suspending all classes and examinations. To avoid public suffering, they have decided not to continue the Shahbagh blockade.
Sakibul Hoque Lipu, General Secretary of the Engineers’ Rights Movement, announced, “Since none of our demands have been met, we are compelled to go for tougher programs. However, we will not block Shahbagh anymore to spare the public from suffering.” The next course of action will be revealed at a press conference this afternoon at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh.
The students’ key demands are:
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Diploma engineers must not use the title “Engineer.”
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No diploma engineer should be promoted to the 9th grade.
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Only graduate engineers should be eligible for 10th grade entry-level jobs.
Earlier, during their “Long March to Dhaka,” police stopped students heading toward the Chief Adviser’s residence at Jamuna, even firing tear shells to disperse them. Later in the evening, two government advisers met the students for discussions.
In essence, the engineering students’ protest has shifted from Shahbagh streets to campuses nationwide, now manifesting as a total shutdown.