Imran Hossain
Recently a movement has spurred in the campus of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) in Sylhet. The students are demanding the resignation of Vice Chancellor (VC) Professor Farid Uddin Ahmed after a police attack on students and the closure of the university. More than five hundred students of the university took part.
Earlier, the students clashed with the police in the wake of the students’ movement demanding three points and the protesters blocking the way of the Vice-Chancellor. Police used batons, sound grenades, and tear gas to disperse the protesters. At least 50 people including police, teachers, and students were injured. The students alleged that the police carried out the attack on the instructions of the VC. During this demonstration, instructions were given to close the university and vacate the residential halls. Protests intensified as soon as the authority published the orders. And in this case, the police have filed a case against more than three hundred students of the university! And behind this incident is the resignation of the principal and assistant principal of Begum Sirajunnesa Hall of the university, removal of all mismanagement of the hall to ensure a healthy and normal environment and movement of several hundred students in the hall demanding appointment of student friendly and responsible principal committee. And the main reason for the student movement is the mismanagement in the residential halls and the abuse and arbitrary behavior of the provost.
As soon as the television screen or the magazine is opened, questionable incidents against the students of SUST are coming up one after another. And again and again the question arises as to what was the crime of conscience of those students which resulted in such an incident! The incident repeatedly made a healthy conscientious nation think.
This was the demand of the students of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology. Just as a child can express his wishes and reluctance to his parents, so too can university students express their desires, wishes and aspirations to their guardians at the university. That is a university teacher or an administrative officer in charge of that sector. The responsibility of a teacher, such as enlightening the students, enlightening them or educating them as an enlightened person is the responsibility of the teacher for the good of the students and also the responsibility of the students to see the good and bad things of the students but not to solve these problems. When the students were beaten by the police, it took the form of autocracy. Such is the case with the students of SUST.
The supreme guardian of a university is the Vice-Chancellor of that university. A Vice-Chancellor has to keep his eyes and ears open for all time. If a person in a lower position makes a mistake, there is a person in a higher position to correct or correct it. But in order for a person with the highest power or the highest position to take any action, he must verify the truth of everything and take action. It is the responsibility and duty of the university to meet the needs of the students. It is very normal for students to have demands from the university. It is real that the people in charge should be informed about their demands, benefits and disadvantages, and understand their rights. Because a university student is much more aware of his rights. Because he has to think about others. If being a student of a university cannot protest against injustice, cannot understand one’s own rights, then the understanding of ordinary students will not be able to express their distant condition.
If a student of one of the highest educational institutions of the country cannot call injustice unjust, then the next generation will be prone to abuse of power, the next generation will be speech impaired. University students have to consider all these.
One thing to think about in general is when do people choose a difficult situation or a crooked path? When do all the students in a hall join the movement? When do they unite for the realization of their rights? The students of SUST, after a long period of silence, started a movement to assert their rights. They came together in a peaceful human chain to inform the administration about their problems. But incidentally university students have been humiliated by the police. The police did not come inside the university on their own. They did not attack the students at will. At the behest of any force they attacked the students! According to the report, the student movement started, mismanagement of the hall and abuse and arbitrary behavior of the provost.
The university administration cannot call the allegations of mismanagement of the university hall as false or fabricated. Although the students conspired to slander the provost, it was the duty of the university administration and the vice-chancellor to conduct a proper investigation and stand up for justice in this regard. It is true that the students blocked the vice chancellor. But the students have blocked it to assert their rights. To cure their issues unattended. For justice. The Vice-Chancellor could have easily solved this if he had wanted to. Instead, such an attack on students by pushing is not acceptable in any way. University students have been beaten by the police even before independence. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was always by the side of the students as a result of the attack on the students during the Pakistani period.
But today, even in autonomous universities, students have been attacked by the police, which is a very disgusting incident. Those involved in such barbaric attacks on university students must be brought under the law and appropriate punishment must be meted out. Such attacks on students are unacceptable.
The writer is a student of Jagannath University.
