DU-affiliated college students stage demo
The protesters said Dhaka University’s negligence put their academic life in serious trouble
The students of seven Dhaka University (DU) affiliated colleges staged demonstration on Wednesday to press home their seven-point demand.
Around 200 students formed a human chain in front of the Jatiya Press Club under the banner of "General students of seven colleges".
They demanded holding exams immediate, resolving session jams and an inquiry into the higher fail rate in tests evaluated by Dhaka University.
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The students also protested the "negligence" on the part of DU authorities that has brought a serious "uncertainty" over their academic life.
Mehedi Hasan Sharaban, a Dhaka College Bangla Department student, told The Business Standard that seven colleges seem to have slipped into quicksand as they came under the DU leaving the National University in 2017-18 academic year.
"Now our major issue is getting promoted to next year. They [DU] publish the result 10 months after the examination while they are yet to publish the results of many subjects of the first and second year," he said.
In 2017, the government affiliated Dhaka College, Eden Girls College, Government Shaheed Suhrawardy College, Kabi Nazrul Government College, Begum Badrunnesa Government Women's College, Mirpur Government Bangla College and Government Titumir College with Dhaka University.
As per the government directive, Dhaka University will carry out all academic activities of theses colleges, including conducting their admission process and examinations and development of their syllabuses.
At Wednesday's demonstration, Eden College student Maria Akhter said, "Some 17 first year students of Bangla Department of Begum Badrunnessa College got promoted to next year while more than 85 students took the test. From Government Bangla College, more than 230 students took the test while only 34 of them passed the first year exam."
She demanded allowing the students who failed three subjects to retake the test.
"If DU implements the point-system to qualify for re-examination, more than 50% students will never graduate. Both their academic lives and dreams will be nipped in the bud," added Maria.
The other demands of the students include re-evaluation of their test papers to identify higher fail rate and holding tests again as soon as possible, publishing results within 90 days, arranging special exams of 2012-13 academic year and publishing results one month after the completion of exams and taking effective measures to resolve session jam.
