Teachers’ strike at RUET

Students fear session jam

The ongoing session jam may take a worse turn for students of the Rajshahi University of Engineering (RUET). Teachers of the varsity continue to boycott classes and academic activities, demanding punishment for those agitating students who confined and assaulted them during a protest programme for cancellation of the ‘credit system’ on February 4. Some students alleged that they have been undergoing a session jam for more than a year.  The students expressed mixed reactions to the ongoing movement by RUET teachers. Most of them said that the teachers should adopt a different strategy to realise their demands as the current stalemate would eventually hamper their academic career.
Some students of the 2012–13 session said that their final examination was scheduled to start from February 14. If the strike continues, they will face a session jam. All the students should not suffer due to the actions of only a small section of students, they added.
Habibullah, a first-year student, said the students are being the worst sufferer as they may soon exceed the ceiling age for government services. Nurun Nahar, final-year student of the computer science and engineering (CSE) department, said: “We want the session jam to end.”
She also demanded punishment for the guilty students after proper investigation.
RUET vice-chancellor Prof. Rafiqul Alam Bag said that a five-member probe body has been formed. The authorities have already requested the teachers to return their academic activities, he added.
On the other hand, RUET Teachers' Association president Prof. Nirendranath Mustafi said that they would continue the boycotting programme till their demands are met. The association has also formed a five-member monitoring committee to assist the probe body.
On January 28 this year, the students of 2014–15 and 2015–16 academic sessions started a continuous demonstration and boycotted their classes, demanding withdrawal of the mandatory policy requiring 33 credits per year for promotion.
On 4 February, the agitating students staged a sit-in programme in front of the vice-chancellor’s office. They confined the vice chancellor and about 25 teachers for 24 hours.
In the face of the students’ demonstrations, the university authorities withdrew the mandatory system of 33 credits required for promotion. This policy was introduced by the university authorities in the 2013–14 academic session. It mandates that if a student fails to get 33 out of 40 credits in a year, he/she will not be allowed to move up to next session and will have to retake the whole year again.  Protesting against this decision, the students started a continuous demonstration and besieged the vice-chancellor’s office, which compelled the university authorities to postpone the regular classes and exams for an indefinite period on December, 18 2015.

Teachers strike at RUET

Students fear session jam

The ongoing session jam may take a worse turn for students of the Rajshahi University of Engineering (RUET). Teachers of the varsity continue to boycott classes and academic activities, demanding punishment for those agitating students who confined and assaulted them during a protest programme for cancellation of the credit system on February 4. Some students alleged that they have been undergoing a session jam for more than a year. The students expressed mixed reactions to the ongoing movement by RUET teachers. Most of them said that the teachers should adopt a different strategy to realise their demands as the current stalemate would eventually hamper their academic career. Some students of the 201213 session said that their final examination was scheduled to start from February 14. If the strike continues, they will face a session jam. All the students should not suffer due to the actions of only a small section of students, they added. Habibullah, a first-year student, said the students are being the worst sufferer as they may soon exceed the ceiling age for government services. Nurun Nahar, final-year student of the computer science and engineering (CSE) department, said: We want the session jam to end. She also demanded punishment for the guilty students after proper investigation. RUET vice-chancellor Prof. Rafiqul Alam Bag said that a five-member probe body has been formed. The authorities have already requested the teachers to return their academic activities, he added. On the other hand, RUET Teachers Association president Prof. Nirendranath Mustafi said that they would continue the boycotting programme till their demands are met. The association has also formed a five-member monitoring committee to assist the probe body. On January 28 this year, the students of 201415 and 201516 academic sessions started a continuous demonstration and boycotted their classes, demanding withdrawal of the mandatory policy requiring 33 credits per year for promotion. On 4 February, the agitating students staged a sit-in programme in front of the vice-chancellors office. They confined the vice chancellor and about 25 teachers for 24 hours. In the face of the students demonstrations, the university authorities withdrew the mandatory system of 33 credits required for promotion. This policy was introduced by the university authorities in the 201314 academic session. It mandates that if a student fails to get 33 out of 40 credits in a year, he/she will not be allowed to move up to next session and will have to retake the whole year again. Protesting against this decision, the students started a continuous demonstration and besieged the vice-chancellors office, which compelled the university authorities to postpone the regular classes and exams for an indefinite period on December, 18 2015.