Students of 7 colleges warn of Shikkha Bhaban blockade after facing rival demos

Students of seven government colleges in Dhaka on Wednesday threatened to stage “indefinite sit-ins” in front of the Shikkha Bhaban, moving their traditional protest site away from the New Market area after facing multiple rival demonstrations there.

They gave the government until Saturday to issue the ordinance on establishing the “Dhaka Central University,” a proposed public university envisioned to combine all the colleges into a single entity and end the age-old miseries of the students.

If the government fails to meet the ultimatum, they would launch a continuous sit-in next to the Shikkha Bhaban on Sunday, effectively blockading the critical facility, the students threatened.

On 5 August last year, the ouster of autocratic Awami League government emboldened the students to wage street movements and demand an end to the years of bureaucratic hurdles they faced first under the National University and then under the Dhaka University.

Since 5 August 2024, they have repeatedly blocked the Mirpur Road in the New Market area. At one point, the government got policy approval to their demands, announcing the “Dhaka Central University” would be set up.

However, the university’s potential framework has dissatisfied different other stakeholders: teachers, higher secondary students and students of women’s colleges.

On Wednesday, all the three groups held demonstrations inside and outside Dhaka College, challenging the long-held dominance of the students from the seven colleges on the matter. Additional police forces had to be deployed to pre-empt a dramatic worsening of tensions.

Sensing trouble, the students of seven colleges had to cut short their blockade programme for the day.

Now they have picked Shikkha Bhaban as their next blockade site to continue piling pressure on the government while circumventing the street protests by rival groups.