DU 'black badge' programme draws lukewarm response

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DU Correspondent
Very few teachers of Dhaka University (DU) wore black badges Saturday to express symbolic protest against the arrest of Awami League (AL) chief Sheikh Hasina and harassment to the top political leaders of the country.
Only the teachers belonging to the blue panel (AL-backed) and pink panel (leftist) carried black badges to express protest but most of the white panel (BNP-backed) teachers did not.
A teacher of Political Science Department said that teachers, who are directly involved in politics, put on black badges.
The teachers, having no political affiliations, did not wear black badges as well. Students of different departments Saturday said that they hardly saw teachers taking classes by wearing black badges.
Another teacher of Public Administration claimed on condition of anonymity that many teachers were 'asked' to wear black badges at the teachers' lounge of Arts Building of the university, though they were not interested.
Former chairman of University Grants Commission (UGC) M Asaduzzaman said that he is always against any work abstention or programmes that hamper the congenial atmosphere of education.
White panel teacher and President of Dhaka University Teachers Association (DUTA) Sadrul Amin said he did not know how many teachers wore black badges as he did not come to the campus Saturday because of illness.
Blue panel teacher and DUTA General Secretary Md Anwar Hossain claimed that their programme was successful as all teachers spontaneously wore black badges to protest the arrest of AL chief.
Meanwhile, a special team of police interrogated some teachers of blue panel about their protest programmes Friday night.
DUTA member and dean of social sciences faculty Harun-ur-Rashid admitted the interrogation of police.
However, the teachers of blue and pink panels will observe a half-day work abstention at the university today (Sunday) protesting the arrest of AL chief Sheikh Hasina and demanding her release with honour.
When contacted, many teachers alleged that the AL-backed teachers were patronising the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), student wing of AL, to enforce strike at the university today (Sunday) as the general students do not pay heed to their (BCL) programmes.