Teachers at Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (Cuet) have demanded the reinstatement of former vice-chancellor Professor Abu Sadeque Muhammad Sayem and called for intensified work abstention until their demand is met.
Members of the Cuet Teachers’ Association staged a sit-in in front of the vice-chancellor’s building on Sunday morning, followed by a human chain in the afternoon. They also protested the decision to transfer the vice-chancellor’s routine duties to another professor.
In a statement, the association called on teachers to intensify the full work abstention and sit-in programmes, including the previously announced decision to refrain from assigned duties, until their demand is fulfilled.
Associate Professor Md Samiun Basir of the Department of Water Resources Engineering, also a leader of the teachers’ association, said 15 examinations in different academic years had not been held and classes had remained suspended for 12 working days.
He warned that a prolonged crisis could lead to a major session jam and urged the government to resolve the situation quickly and reasonably.
Samiun Basir said Professor Sayem had no alternative as vice-chancellor under the current circumstances. He added that the association was strongly demanding Sayem’s reinstatement and urging the authorities not to issue similar appointment notifications in the future.
Regarding the transfer of the vice-chancellor’s routine duties, Teachers’ Association President Professor Mohammad Ahsan Ullah said he had learned about the assignment through Facebook.
“I learned about the assignment of the vice-chancellor’s routine duties through Facebook. How this assignment was made is something Facebook itself may know,” he said.
Cuet Controller of Examinations Professor Md Moinul Islam said an office order had traditionally been issued when routine duties of a vice-chancellor were assigned. Such orders specified the person receiving the responsibility and the duration of the assignment.
However, he said the university had not received any office order regarding the latest assignment.
Earlier, newly appointed Cuet Vice-Chancellor Professor Sheikh Shariful Alam assigned the routine duties of the vice-chancellor to Professor Md Arafat Rahman of the Department of Mechanical Engineering for 11 and 12 October.
Sheikh Shariful Alam was in Dhaka to attend a meeting of the University Grants Commission (UGC), and the assignment was communicated by email on 9 October.
On 21 September, Professor Abu Sadeque Muhammad Sayem was removed from the vice-chancellor’s post, and Professor Sheikh Shariful Alam of Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (KUET) was appointed as Cuet’s new vice-chancellor.
Protesting the decision, students have been enforcing a “complete shutdown” since 22 September. Teachers, officers and employees have also been observing work abstention over the same demand.
The prolonged protests have brought classes, examinations and other academic activities at the university to a halt.
