Polytechnic Institutes Announce Continuous Shutdown Over Six-Point Demand

Staff Reporter

The Technical Students’ Movement has declared a continuous shutdown at all polytechnic institutes across the country starting Tuesday to press their six-point demand.

In a press release issued Monday night, signed by the organization’s office secretary Sabbir Ahmed, the group stated that the shutdown would persist until a roadmap to implement their demands is outlined.

Their demands include overturning a High Court ruling promoting craft instructors to junior instructor positions and altering their designations; repealing controversial recruitment rules from 2021; maintaining the four-year duration of diploma engineering courses with a quality syllabus and curriculum.

Additional demands include ensuring eligibility for sub-assistant engineer and equivalent positions (10th grade) exclusively for graduates of four-year diploma-in-engineering and monotechnology (surveying) programs; setting a minimum salary of BDT 16,000 for diploma graduates in the private sector; and publishing a gazette for establishing a dedicated university for higher education while allocating 100% seats in four proposed engineering colleges.

The students have been advocating for months through memoranda, human chains, and boycotting classes and exams. On April 16, they staged sit-ins at Tejgaon’s Satrasta intersection and blocked roads and railways across various districts.

Although the protest was briefly suspended that evening following government intervention and a meeting at the Secretariat, students later accused officials of deceit and vowed to continue their movement.

On April 22, the second round of discussions was held with officials from the Ministry of Education’s Technical and Madrasa Education Division.