The Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) reopened
on Saturday after a 44-day shutdown stemming from protests by its
teachers and students seeking ouster of the Vice-Chancellor.
However, no classes were held on Saturday.
Holding
admission test to BUET for the 2012-2013 session has also become
uncertain as the protesting teachers have been boycotting classes and
other academic activities for more than a month.
Following
the protest of the students and teachers demanding resignation of the VC
and Pro-Vice Chancellor, BUET authorities had advanced the Eid-ul-Fitr
vacation, from July 10. But the protesters continued their movement.
Some
of the demonstrating teachers said they continued their protests at
personal level by skipping classes but without any formal declaration of
any protest plan to guard themselves against contempt of court charge.
The High Court on Aug 14 in a rule ordered authorities to
start the admission process of the first-year students amid the
teachers' protests.
Asked whether all the teachers had
decided not to take classes, BUET Teachers Association General Secretary
Ashraful Islam told bdnews24.com: "This is not the association's
decision. If a teacher does not take classes, it's his personal
decision."
The teachers' association has been leading the protest against the VC and the Pro-VC.
"We
still demand that they (VC and Pro-VC) resign. We hope the government
will take positive measures considering the situation of BUET," Islam
said.
Vice-Chancellor SM Nazrul Islam, however, on Saturday hoped the teachers would return to classes.
"Maybe they did not come today (Saturday) as it was the first day. They will attend in the coming days," he said.
Asked
what action would be taken if they didn't take the classes even after
that, Islam dodged the query and said, "I'm in a meeting… I'll talk
later."
The VC, who faced harsh protest from his colleagues
and students recently, had earlier also threatened to continue the
university's academic activities by appointing new teachers.
About
the admission process, he on Saturday said the university's Academic
Council meeting would decide on the issue on Tuesday.
However,
a leader of the teachers association, preferring not to be named, told
bdnews24.com: "The deans and chairmen of the departments will have to be
called upon if the authorities decide to proceed with the admission
test. But those teachers will not attend the meeting for sure."
The teachers association had started abstaining from work on Apr 7 demanding the removal of the VC and Pro-VC Habibur Rahman.
After
the Prime Minister had promised to consider their demand, they had
postponed the strike for one month. But as their demand was not met
within July 7, they started work abstention for two hours from 11am.
Facing
protests by the teachers and students, the BUET authorities shut the
university on July 10, a month in advance for Ramadan and Eid-ul-Fitr,
until Aug 24. The decision intensified the protests.
On July
11, 24 teachers holding academic posts resigned. Then the teachers
association announced that the teachers would resign en masse on July 22
if there demand was not met.
They, however, postponed the
'resignation decision' until July 30. Since then they have been staging
token hunger-strike on the campus for two hours from 11am every day.
After
meeting former VCs and senior teachers of BUET, Education Minister
Nurul Islam Nahid had said a solution would be worked out after
discussions with the Prime Minister and the President.
The
High Court on Aug 14 ordered the university authorities to immediately
start procedures for admissions to the 2012-13 academic session. It also
issued a rule asking why the movement of the teachers should not be
declared illegal.
Since then, the BUET teachers have not announced officially any protest programme.
