No varsity sans executing CHT deal, say BSU, PCB

FE Team | Published: March 05, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

Bangladesh Students' Union (BSU) and Parbatya Chattagram Paharhi Chhatra Parishad (PCP) demanded on Wednesday the government refrain from establishing Rangamati Science and Technology University and Rangmati Medical College until the CHT Accord is properly implemented, reports UNB.
The two student organisations also observed that the Rangamati Science and Technology University and Rangamati Medical College Act 2001 were formulated without the consent of the CHT Regional Council, which is a violation of the CHT Accord.
The move to establish the university and the medical college in Rangamati without proper implementation of the CHT Accord, and without resolving land-related conflicts in the region will only deepen the crisis in the region, they stated.
In a joint statement, leaders of the two student organisations also demanded the government priorities establishing adequate primary, secondary and higher secondary schools, improving the standards of education and ensuring primary education in the mother tongue of all the ethnic communities in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT).
Signed by BSU president Hasan Tarek and PCP president Jyotisman Chakma, the statement noted that despite the necessity of education services, particularly higher education, in the CHT, they are doubtful whether Rangmati Science and Technology University and Rangamati Medical College would come to any use to the hill people.
While 90 per cent of the primary schools in the CHT region are not being able to impart quality education, and given that the number of primary schools and teaching staff are still very insignificant compared to the population, how the children of the hill communities would avail of the opportunity of higher education, said the statement.
The BSU and PCP also demanded the government increase the quota for ethnic community students in the existing higher education institutions, establish a paramedical institution in the CHT and increase the allocation for the overall development of education in the region.