The Islami Chhatra Shibir-backed “Integrated Student Alliance” panel has released a 9-point manifesto for the upcoming Jahangirnagar University Central Students’ Union (JUCSU) elections, under the slogan “Transparency and Efficiency, Fairness and Certainty.”
Vice-presidential (VP) candidate Arif Ullah unveiled the manifesto at a press conference held at the university’s Bot Tola area at 2:30pm on Sunday.
Present at the event were General Secretary candidate Md Mazharul Islam, Joint General Secretary (Male) candidate Ferdous Al Hasan, Joint General Secretary (Female) candidate Ayesha Siddika Meghla, along with several other candidates.
Their key pledges include:
- Building a fascism-free campus by upholding the spirit of the July uprising and ensuring justice for teachers, students, and staff involved, based on a fair investigation.
- Enforcing the academic calendar to eliminate session jams, introducing quality improvement exams, opposing teacher recruitment on political grounds, and implementing a course-end teacher evaluation system.
- Developing a comprehensive ecological master plan to safeguard campus life and nature, establishing sanctuaries to protect biodiversity, and enhancing tree plantation, conservation drives, waste management, and recycling initiatives.
- Building social resistance against ragging, guest room culture and cyber bullying, ensuring the provision of quality food at affordable prices by collecting at least 50% subsidy in dining and installing pure water filters on every floor. Ensuring sanitary napkin vending machines in student halls and taking initiatives to build boundary walls in newly built student halls and increasing adequate security and examining the feasibility of installing ‘soundproof glass’ along the Dhaka-Aricha highway.
- Adding a digital coupon system along with the provision of three meals a day and afternoon snacks in the cafeteria, fighting for full medical coverage for health protection and introducing 24/7 ambulance service. Also, taking necessary steps to introduce health insurance.
- Development of playgrounds, gymnasiums and indoor games facilities, ensuring adequate play equipment in each department and hall and organising regular inter-departmental and inter-hall sports competitions.
- Strengthening the “Sexual Harassment Complaints Cell” to prevent sexual harassment and building resistance against all kinds of hateful behavior against women online and offline, including cyberbullying, racism. At the same time, opening day-care centers and breastfeeding corners for “mother” students and setting up women’s common rooms in every academic building and making separate prayer facilities for women in every building including the central mosque.
- Bringing all the official activities of the campus under automation and introducing smart ID cards for students. Solving the internal transportation problem on priority basis and constructing sidewalks and launching a “live tracking app” for transportation.
- Special infrastructure for students with special needs: The panel wants to ensure the provision of ramps, lifts, Braille books, audio books, e-learning tools and other facilities for visually impaired students at the initiative of the university. They also promised to bring disabled students under training in coordination with national and international organisations working for specially abled students.
Commenting on the manifesto, vice-presidential candidate Arif Ullah said, “We believe students will support our manifesto and stand by our movement by casting their votes for us. All the points we presented have been carefully reviewed and are feasible to implement within the next year.”
He added, “While complete medical reform may not be possible in that time, we aim to lay the groundwork for its full realisation in the future. With proper cooperation from the administration, all our pledges can be achieved. We will act as the students’ voice, bringing their concerns to the administration for resolution.”
