Jabir administration building locked, Vice-Chancellor-Treasurer blocked for 8 hours

Students of the 20th batch (2024-25 academic year) of Jagannath University (JUB) are staging a sit-in program by besieging the administrative building demanding special scholarships. The university vice-chancellor Prof. Rezaul Karim and treasurer Professor Sabina Sharmin are trapped inside the administrative building. They have been blocked for 8 hours till writing the report.

On Sunday (January 25) from 10 am, angry students took position in front of the administration building. At around 12 noon, the protesters locked the main gate of the building. They have announced that they will continue the program until their demands are met.

The treasurer of the university spoke to the students around 3 pm. Sabina Sharmin. He said that batch 20 is one of the most prestigious batches of Jagannath University. In the first year, many problems have to be faced in the ginji environment of old Dhaka. According to the policy, if students of academic year 2024-25 are included in the first installment, students of academic year 2019-20 will be deprived of the scholarship. Because according to the ongoing five batches (15 batches) they will not get scholarship. But their role in Yamuna movement was prominent.

He further said, nothing will happen according to my sole decision. It is not a 1 minute decision. We will try to resolve it as soon as possible by discussing with all the committee members.

Earlier in the morning, students took out a protest march in front of the university’s VC building demanding housing allowance. The procession circled in front of Kala Bhavan, Shaheed Sajid Bhavan and Faculty of Science and ended in front of the Administration Building. Later, the students surrounded the administrative building and took a position there.

Till the writing of this report, no official statement has been received from the university administration. However, a delegation of 20 batches is said to be discussing with the university treasurer.

In this regard, Rabbi, a student of the Institute of Modern Language department, said that a delegation of ours is discussing with the treasurer madam. We will not leave here without writing.

AQF/KHK