JnU students stage demo outside Secretariat

The Jagannath University (JnU) student representatives will hold a meeting with the Ministry of Education high-ups today (Tuesday) to discuss their five-point demand, for which they staged a demonstration outside the Bangladesh Secretariat in the capital on Monday.

Hundreds of students of the JnU brought out a procession from the campus and came to the Shikkha Bhavan via Tantibazar and GPO intersection at around 12 noon on Monday. The agitating students blocked the secretariat gates after they failed to enter the Shikkha Bhaban to place their demands to the education secretary at around 2:00 pm. They chanted slogans to press home their demands.

Later, they took to the street around the Secretariat, which caused severe gridlock in the adjacent areas, including Paltan, Gulistan, Bijoynagar and Segunbagicha.

At around 3:30 pm, Information Adviser Nahid Islam approached the agitating students. Following his arrival, a delegation of students was invited inside the Secretariat for a meeting with the education adviser and the secretary.

Professor Nasir Uddin Ahmad of the JnU's English department, who joined the meeting, told the reporters that it was decided to hold a meeting on Tuesday.

"The education adviser, information adviser and education secretary have agreed to sit in a meeting at 12 noon on Tuesday in the face of the students' demands."

The JnU Vice-Chancellor along with a group of teachers and students will also be present in the meeting.

The JnU students' demands include providing the charge of its second campus development to the Bangladesh Army and outlining a specific roadmap by the ministry, undertaking quick measures to acquire the remaining 11 acres of land, discarding all decisions taken by the fascist regime regarding the JnU campus, incorporating the JnU in the UGCs pilot project, and making an allocation of Tk 5.00 billion in the JnU's annual budget.

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