The art of teaching art without any teacher

RU students agitate

4 February 2010, 18:00 PM

A RU Correspondent

Students of oriental art at Rajshahi University lay siege to the administrative building yesterday demanding recruitment of teachers for the subject.Photo: STAR

Students of oriental arts at Rajshahi University (RU) yesterday laid a siege to the administrative building demanding recruitment of teachers for the subject. Scores under 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09 academic sessions also blocked the building's main gate for an hour at noon. Earlier, the students formed a human chain in front of the university central library followed by a silent procession that paraded the campus. At a rally in front of the administrative building, the students said there is no teacher for the oriental group at the fine arts department for the last five years. They alleged that the authorities did not take any initiative to recruit any teacher for the subject although the demand was raised several times. “We had to sit for exams without attending any class on the subject while six students out of fifty in each session had to take the course,” Sourav Ahmed, a third year student of the group said. The classroom allotted for the subject is locked for the last six months due to lack of teachers, he said. The agitating students alleged that the authorities appointed two teachers for sculpture although they issued circulars for recruiting two lecturers on oriental medium. Alleging indifference to their right to proper education, they called upon the university authorities to take immediate steps to recruit teachers on the subject. Later, a six-member students group met vice-chancellor Prof Abdus Sobhan and placed a memorandum containing a five-day ultimatum to resolve their teacher crisis. The students also threatened to go for indefinite strike including class boycott programme if their demands were not met within five days. The vice-chancellor assured the agitating students of looking into the mater and taking necessary steps in this regard.