Jagannath University (JnU) students ended their siege of the Bangladesh Secretariat on Monday afternoon after the education adviser pledged to sit with protest organisers the next day to discuss their five-point demand.

Hours earlier, they had blocked the main movement route in front of the Secretariat to press home their demands including construction of the university’s second campus by the army and increasing the university’s budget allocation. The demonstration had prompted authorities to lock all the gates from inside.

At 3.30pm, ICT Adviser Nahid Islam, also a student representative in the interim government, came out of the Secretariat to meet the JnU students. As a result, the protest organisers were allowed to meet Education Adviser Md Wahiduddin Mahmud and Education Secretary inside the Secretariat. The education adviser pledged to meet the JnU students' demands following a meeting with them at the Secretariat on Tuesday.

Earlier, Nahid had verbally assured them of meeting all their five demands after three days, but the JnU students remained defiant demanding written assurances.

The students took position in front of the education building on Monday noon and later a 12-member delegation of students entered the Secretariat with a memorandum to submit it to the Education Secretary.

The 12-member JnU delegation includes their spokesperson Tausib Mahmud Sohan, organisers AKM Rakib, Raisul Islam Noyon, Asadul Islam, Abu Bakr Khan, Naushin Nawar Joya, Sohan Pramanik, Masud Rana, Nur Nabi, Omar Faruk, Ferdous Sheikh, and Apu Munshi.

As the Education Secretary did not meet them, the students besieged the Secretariat.

The students demanded that the project director appointed during the autocratic Awami League regime for the conduction of 2nd campus must be brought under legal scrutiny, and within seven days, the project works must be handed over to the army. They also demanded that immediate steps must be taken to recover the remaining 11 acres of land of the university potentially from illegal grabbers, and all agreements regarding the old campus made during the autocratic regime must be cancelled.

They also demanded the inclusion of Jagannath University in the pilot project recently announced by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and a minimum annual budget allocation of Tk500 crore for the university.

Jagannath University student Naushin Joya said, “We came to the Education Secretary with the memorandum. We were kept standing inside the iron gate and asked to send our demands through representatives. We were not allowed inside. The Secretary later conveyed that he has no time to speak with us. We will remain here until the Education Adviser arrives. Since we have come outside, we won’t go back. The Education Adviser must come to us.”

Tausib Mahmud Sohan said, “We entered the Secretariat with the memorandum to meet the Education Secretary. However, instead of meeting us personally, the Secretary sent a representative to speak with us. We do not accept this. Now, our demand is that the Education Adviser comes and listens to us.”