Sust English students stage hunger strike for holding exams
VC, registrar confined to offices
Sust English students on hunger strike, left, and a student, fallen sick during the programme, being carried onto an ambulance yesterday.Photo: STAR
English department students of Shahjalal University of Science & Technology (SUST) observed a hunger strike and confined Vice-Chancellor and the Registrar at their offices yesterday to press holding of two remaining examinations and two other demands. About 100 students of the department also locked the main gate of the registrar building at about 3 pm yesterday to press their demand. The hunger strike that began at about noon continued till 8:30 pm when the report was filed. The Dean of Social Science faculty Reza-E-Karim Khondker was holding a meeting with Vice Chancellor Prof M Aminul Islam when the report was filed, campus sources said. The demands are holding of the remaining two examinations which were postponed by the faculty dean following a May 4 decision of the Academic Council, appointment of two permanent professors in English department and creation of Arts Faculty comprising English and Bangla departments. Before the 'hunger strike', the students staged a sit-in in front of the registrar building for three hours. One of the hunger striking students--Abu Sufian-- was sent to Osmani Medical College Hospital at about 2 pm as his condition deteriorated, campus sources said. The sources said the students were pressing their demands for holding the remaining two examinations so that they can sit for the ensuing BCS examination. Earlier in the morning, the students handed over a memorandum to Vice Chancellor Prof M Aminul Islam. At about 2 pm, the VC went to the agitating students and asked them to withdraw their hunger strike, assuring that steps would be taken to fulfill their demands. But the students wanted 'clear decisions', the sources said. When contacted over cell phone at about 7pm, Sust Registrar Zamil Ahmed Chowdhury said, “We are yet confined in our offices”. “However, measures are being taken to end the problem”, he said. “Dean Reza-E-Karim Khondker sat for an emergency meeting with his faculty members a short while ago. Then we will talk to the VC”, Chowdhury added.
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