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Jagannath University

Tension over protest against high fees

Staff Correspondent
Agitating students of Jagannath University yesterday called for boycotting classes and examinations for an indefinite period from today, demanding cancellation of a development fee the university administration has been charging freshers with their admission fees.
The administration in response imposed a ban on all kinds of demonstrations on campus until further notice. The ban will be effective from 10:00am today, Vice-chancellor Mejbah Uddin Ahmed told The Daily Star yesterday.
At least 600 students under the banner of "Pragotisheel Chhatra Jote" joined a prescheduled agitation in front of the vice-chancellor's office around 10:00am and stayed there till 3:30pm.
Several marches were also brought out on the campus, as yesterday was the last date for admission to first-year honours courses.
While the demonstrations were going on, the university administration led by the VC sat in a meeting with leaders of the dem-
onstrating students, but the meeting could not reach a settlement.
The student leaders said they will continue their agitation until the administration cancels the Tk 5,000 development fee.
"We again requested the VC to cancel the extra fee at the meeting, but he and other officials didn't pay any heed," a student leader said.
"So we decided to boycott classes and exams for an indefinite period," he added.
Assistant Proctor Dr Ashok Kumer Saha told The Daily Star that the decision of imposing a ban on demonstrations on campus was made following the meeting, as some leaders of left leaning student organisations threatened to create
anarchy and hamper academicactivities.
"We asked the students to carry ID cards, no one will be allowed to enter the campus without ID cards, so that outsiders can't create any chaos," he said.
Several hundred police personnel were deployed on the campus to maintain law and order, said Syed Faruq Hossain, public relations officer of the university.
The university administration has been charging freshers Tk 5,000 on top of their admission fees for the institution's development purposes since 2005 when Jagannath University College was upgraded to the status of a full-fledged university.
The administration started charging the devel-
opment fee because a government ordinance back then said the university must generate its own fund for meeting its expenses from the sixth year of becoming a full-fledged university.
A student movement for cancellation of the development fee started last year, which forced the government to amend the ordinance saying it will continue to fund the institution. The movement stopped following the amendment of the ordinance.
But the university administration kept on charging the freshers the development fee, prompting the movement to re-emerge on January 3 this year.