STUDENTS of the Sylhet Agricultural University's veterinary faculty on Tuesday staged demonstrations after boycotting academic activities for 5-point demands, including enhancement of an intern's monthly allowance to Tk 20,000 from Tk 9,000.
They staged a sit-in and formed a human chain in front of the faculty and brought out a procession on the campus, boycotting the scheduled classes to press home the demands.
The agitating students alleged that the interns of other universities in the country are given Tk 20,000 as allowance but the interns of SAU are given only Tk 9,000.
Besides, travel allowance and dining allowance also are given to the interns of other universities while the SAU interns are not provided it, they claimed during the demonstrations.
A student of the faculty,
Nirjan Sarkar, said that they submitted a memorandum to the university vice-chancellor on January 9, mentioning a deadline of 7 days to meet the demands.
But the authorities did not take any effective step, forcing them to go for the movement after boycott- ing the scheduled classes, he said.
"The agitation will be continued until our demands are met. We will stage demonstrations on the campus on Wednesday and lock the faculty building on Thurs- day as part of our action pro- gramme, Nirjan claimed.
The SAU vice-chancellor Professor Md Alimul Islam said that the demands of the students are reasonable.
'The interns' allowance is determined by the University Grants Commission. We will talk to the UGC and try to meet the students' demands. However, it is a time-consuming matter he added.
Source: newage