Students at polytechnic institutes across Bangladesh enforced a “complete shutdown” on Tuesday, halting all academic and administrative activities as part of a nationwide protest demanding reforms to recruitment and promotion policies for technical instructors.
At Dhaka Polytechnic Institute, students padlocked the main entrance and staged demonstrations throughout the campus, chanting slogans and marching through various corridors to enforce the shutdown.
The protests were organised in response to a call issued Monday by Karigori Chhatra Andolon Bangladesh, a student-led movement advocating for systemic reforms in technical education.
Protesters say they are frustrated by years of “policy injustice and neglect.” Central to their agitation is a six-point demand, which includes: scrapping the 30 percent promotion quota for craft instructors applying for junior instructor posts; changing the designation of craft instructors; terminating individuals implicated in disputed legal cases; cancelling appointments made under the controversial 2021 recruitment process; and amending what they claim is a flawed recruitment policy.
The movement also demands a time-bound and actionable roadmap for implementing these changes.
In response to the escalating unrest, the Ministry of Education formed an eight-member committee on April 22 to review the students’ demands and instructed it to submit a detailed implementation plan within three weeks.
In recent weeks, polytechnic students across the country have staged increasingly dramatic protests, including road blockades and symbolic marches wearing burial shrouds—an expression of what they describe as “the death of their future” under the current system.
Tuesday’s shutdown at Dhaka Polytechnic marks the latest escalation in a growing and coordinated nationwide movement for education reform.