Students of the Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) have suspended their movement after the university administration accepted two of their six-point demands, and assured them of a logical discussion over the remaining four.
The decision came following a nearly four-hour-long meeting between a delegation of the agitating students and the university authorities on Tuesday night.
Students had earlier withdrawn their blockade of the Dhaka-Mymensingh railway line after the administration called for talks.
BAU Student Affairs Adviser Prof Md Shahidul Haque, who was present at the meeting, said the two demands were met instantly. Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Lutful Hassan joined the meeting online.
Prof Haque said, “Students can stay in the halls from now on. The directive asking them to vacate the halls will be officially withdrawn in Wednesday’s syndicate meeting.” He also hoped that steps would be taken within the next seven days to resume classes and examinations.
The students had been demonstrating for the last month, demanding a combined degree by merging the Faculty of Animal Husbandry and the Faculty of Veterinary Science.
The protests intensified after outsiders attacked the demonstrating students on Sunday night. In response, the university was declared closed for an indefinite period, and all students were ordered to vacate their halls by 9am on Monday.
Defying the closure and vacate order, the protesters held a press conference at the university premises and announced their six-point charter of demands.
After the meeting with the administration, the student affairs adviser stated that the decision of the Academic Council regarding the combined degree would remain upheld. He also promised legal action based on the report of a probe committee formed to investigate the attack on students by outsiders.
Speaking on behalf of the students, ANM Ehsanul Haque Himel said no final decision has been made yet on the combined degree issue and that further discussions would be held.
“We still stand by our demand for a single combined degree. However, we have not scheduled any protest programmes for Thursday,” he said.
Another protesting student, Shibly, said the vice-chancellor assured that no students involved in the movement would face any administrative or academic harassment.
He added that the VC promised to provide a written assurance on the matter by Wednesday if the students requested it.
