Education
First-ever research, innovation fair held at CU
A daylong fair on research, innovation and publication, first of its kind, was held on the Chittagong University (CU) campus on Monday marking the 84th birth anniversary of Scientist Dr Jamal Nazrul Islam.
Dr Nazrul Islam Research Centre for Mathematical and Physical Sciences and Chittagong University Research and Higher Study Society jointly organised the fair styled ‘Chattogram Research Festival’ with the aim to popularise the research culture.
Apart from this, the fair aims to present the researches of the university and varieties of researches of all organisations in Chattogram before all.
CU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Shireen Akhter inaugurated the fair where Pro VC Prof Benu Kumar Dey, Science Faculty Dean Prof Dr Mohammad Nasim Hasan, Dr Nazrul Islam Research Centre Director and Coordinator of the fair Prof Dr Anjan Kumar Chowdhury and Geography department teacher and member secretary of the fair Prof Dr Alak Pal, among others were present there.
Former faculty member of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and ‘Distinguished Professor’ of Brac University Prof Dr Mohammad Kaikobad was the key speaker of the fair.
Islamic University: 2 weeks later, no consequences for accused BCL leaders
It is now two weeks since a first year student of the finance and banking department of Islamic University in Kushtia was made to endure a night of unspeakable torture and humiliation. Thanks to her courage and tenacity in filing a formal, written comlaint to the university authorities the very next day, this disturbing incident perpetrated by the university's Chhatra League unit, more specifically the leadership of the women's wing within that unit, couldn't be suppressed.
However the student body can't help but note that even though two weeks have passed since then, there has been no action taken till now against the prime accused: IU BCL unit vice-president Shanjida Chowdhury Ontora and her cohorts, themselves all BCL activists even if not holding any post including Tabbassum, Israt Jahan Min, Halima Khatun Urmi and Maobiya. This holds true for both the university administration as well as the BCL unit.
Even thirteen days after the night of horror that played out at the Deshratna Sheikh Hasina Hall, authorities had failed to collect CCTV footage of that night from the hall.
Many students are not surprised by that. They. allege that the number of ragging and torturing incidents have increased on campus due to the consistent lack of action against the perpetrators, despite submitting written complaints to the university administration, as the latest victim did.
REad: BCL-Torture: Prime accused appears before probe body
"A couple of weeks have been passed but no action was taken against accused," Bangladesh Chhatra Union IU unit president Emanul Islam Shohan said.
The university administration should have taken action against the accused after they had received the complaint from the victim but they did not do that, he added.
IU law department Professor M Johurul Islam told UNB that the university administration could have primarily taken action against the accused under the code of conduct of the university.
"There was no legal obstacle to taking action against the accused and the university authorities had many ways to take actions in this connection," he added.
IU BCL unit president Faisal Siddike Arafat said that they formed a probe body in this connection. They would recommend to the central BCL to take organisational action against Ontora after getting the probe report.
Ataur Rahman, father of the victim, said that he brought his daughter to the campus four times as part of the investigation. ‘The health condition of my daughter was not so good,’ he said.
When asked about what he will do if she does not get justice, he said that he would lodge a case for legal action in this connection.
Professor Reba Mondol, convener of the probe body formed by the university administration on February 15, could not be reached over phone despite repeated attempts for her comments in this regard.
Read: VC’s leaked audio clips: IU postpones 3 departments’ recruitment process
IU pro-vice-chancellor Professor M Mahbubur Rahman said that they would take stern action against the accused involved in the incident after getting the probe report.
On February 12 night, a group of BCL activists led by Ontora and her cohorts including Tabassum went to the victim’s room and reportedly assaulted and tortured her.
Ontora, at one stage, forced the victim to get undressed and videoed the incident on her mobile phone.
The BCL leader also threatened that she would make the video viral on social media if the victim disclosed the matter to anyone, according to the complainant.
The victim lodged a written complaint with the university administration, including the university proctor, student adviser and the hall provost, demanding punishment of those involved in the incident on February 14.
A writ petition was also filed by Gazi Mohammad Mohsin, an alumnus of the university and a lawyer, with the High Court on Thursday.
Kushtia district administration, meanwhile, formed a three-member inquiry committee, led by additional district magistrate ANM Abujar Gifari, and asked it to submit its report within seven days following a High Court order on February 20.
Accused BCL leader Ontara and activist Tabassum left the hall following the High Court order. However they have reportedly apologised to the victim, effectively owning up to their guilt.
ULAB Organizes Career Fair 2023
The Career Services office (CSO) of the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) held a day-long Career Fair for current students and alumni, chorusing the motto “Connect to the Future” on Saturday.
The chief guest of the fair, Naser Ezaz Bijoy, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank and President of FICCI said, “People make mistakes during their good times. On the contrary, hard times help people to become more complete.” He advised the students to be prepared to take on all sorts of challenges.
Professor Imran Rahman, ULAB Vice-Chancellor, also delivered his remarks at the event.
Read: With an eye to the future, 7th Bangladesh School of Internet Governance ends
Jamal Uddin Jamy, Director of Carrier Services, ULAB said, “The objective of organizing such an event was to ensure a scope of corporate jobs for the graduates of ULAB as well as give them an insight about the country's top organizations.”
After the Inaugural Ceremony, a panel discussion on “What will it take to shape the workforce of the future”, a workshop on resume writing and a training session on Communication and Negotiation Skills took place. The workshop and training sessions were facilitated by Niaz Ahmed, CEO of Corporate Ask and Ejazur Rahman, Managing Director of Mind Mapper, respectively.
A total of 64 multinational and national companies and organizations including Grameenphone, Standard Chartered Bank, Dhaka Bank, Marico, Lanka Bangla Finance and others participated in the career fair. The participating companies also collected a large number of CVs from potential candidates.
With an eye to the future, 7th Bangladesh School of Internet Governance ends
The three-day Bangladesh School of Internet Governance (bdSIG) 2023 drew to a close in the capital on Saturday.
The seventh edition of the fellowship programme brought together 61 fellows – youth and professionals from the private sector, government, academia, civil society, and media – to help them shape the future of the internet by bridging the gap between technology and policy.
The bdSIG, a community development initiative of the Bangladesh Internet Governance Forum (BIGF), began at the Daffodil International University (DIU) in Dhaka's Savar on Thursday with sessions on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, the internet of things, big data, AR, and VR.
DIU lecturers Arid Hasan conducted the session "Artificial Intelligence in Natural Language Processing," Musabbir Hasan "Data Science," and Assistant Professor Apurba Ghosh ran the session "Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Technology."
DIU Vice-Chancellor Professor M Lutfar Rahman, AHM Bazlur Rahman, founder of the BIGF, and Mohammad Abdul Haque Anu, founder and secretary general of the forum, spoke at the final session of the day.
On Friday, at the YWCA Guest House and Training Center in Mohammadpur, Bazlur, also CEO of the Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Community, gave the fellows presentations about key internet issues, including the internet ecosystem; political, legal, economic, sociocultural, and technical dimensions of internet governance as well the local point of intersection of internet governance and Sustainable Development Goals.
He also had interactive conversations about the key actors in internet governance, digital infrastructure and adoption, digital rights, human rights, digital economy, digital divide, and geopolitical positioning.
Rezaul Islam, quality assurance manager of the BGD-eGOV CIRT, talked about cybersecurity and Bangladesh's preparedness.
Mamunur Rashid, consultant at the Enhancement of Bangla Language, conducted the session "Bangla Language in the Digital World."
Also, Anu discussed the activities of the BIGF and its communities, including the Bangladesh Women IGF, Bangladesh Youth IGF, and Bangladesh Kid's IGF.
3 injured in clash between two BCL factions at CU
At least three students were injured in a clash between two factions of Bangladesh Chhatra League’s (BCL) Chittagong University (CU) unit on Friday evening.
Eye-witnesses told UNB that supporters of the ‘Bijoy’group were divided into two factions and clashed with each other, leaving three students injured and vandalising eight rooms of Suhrawardy Hall.
Members of both the groups were seen with local weapons in their hall premises.
Acting Proctor of Chittagong University (CU) Dr. Shahidul Islam said that police went immediately after hearing the news. Police brought the situation under control.
None of the leaders could be reached despite repeated attempts.
7th Bangladesh School of Internet Governance starts
The 7th Bangladesh School of Internet Governance (bdSIG) 2023 started Thursday.
The three-day programme began at the Daffodil International University (DIU) in Savar with sessions on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, AR, and VR.
Mohammad Abdul Haque Anu, secretary general of the Bangladesh Internet Governance Forum (BIGF), welcomed the participants.
DIU lecturers Arid Hasan conducted the session "Artificial Intelligence in Natural Language Processing," Musabbir Hasan "Data Science," and Assistant Professor Apurba Ghosh conducted the session "Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Technology."
DIU Vice-Chancellor Professor M Lutfar Rahman, AHM Bazlur Rahman, CEO of Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Community (BNNRC), and Anu spoke at the final session of the day.
On the second day of the programme at the YWCA Guest House and Training Center in Mohammadpur Friday, Bazlur discussed governance, internet governance, and digital governance.
Rezaul Islam, quality assurance manager of BGD-eGOV CIRT, talked about cyber security and Bangladesh's preparedness. Mamunur Rashid, consultant at Enhancement of Bangla Language, conducted the session "Bangla Language in the Digital World."
Also, Anu discussed the activities of the BIGF and its communities. He highlighted the aims and objectives of the bdSIG and briefed the participants about the school's sessions from 2017 to now.
Faisal Ahmed Bhubon, secretary general of the Bangladesh Youth IGF, discussed the activities of his platform in the last two years.
Nazmul Hasan Majumder, vice-chair of the bdSIG, discussed the activities of the school in the past three years. Ashrafur Rahman Piaus, secretary general of the bdSIG, discussed international fellowship opportunities for the participants.
SUST temporarily suspends 5 students for harassing first year student
The authorities of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST), Sylhet on Wednesday decided to suspend its five students for harassing a first year student in the name of ragging.
Prof Farid Uddin Ahmed, vice chancellor of the SUST, confirmed the news saying that they took the decision to suspend the students and cancel their seats at the dormitory after the allegations of ragging were found to be primarily true.
Apart from this, a five-member committee was formed to investigate the allegations and asked to submit its report within the next five days, he said.
The committee included Business Administration faculty Dean Prof Dr Khairul Islam, Business Administration Department Head Prof Dr Majharul Hasan, Syed Mujtaba Ali Hall Provost Prof Dr Abu Sayed Arfin Khan Nobel, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Hall Provost Moniruzzamana and Assistant Proctor Mizanur Rahman.
A group of students of the Business Administration faculty harassed the first year student in room No.111 of the Syed Mujtaba Ali Hall on January 20.
VC’s leaked audio clips: IU postpones two recruitment boards
The authorities of Islamic University in Kushtia on Wednesday night postponed recruitment boards of its transport office and engineering office as several audio clips of conversations between its vice-chancellor and a job seeker went viral on Facebook.
The decision was made at an emergency meeting of the university administration with IU vice-chancellor Shaikh Abdus Salam in the chair, said a press release, signed by IU information, publication and public relations office deputy registrar Rashiduzzaman Khan Tutul amid protests of the ruling Awami League-backed student body Bangladesh Chhatra League for the removal of the vice-chancellor.
A total of eight audio conversations between VC Salam and a job seeker went viral on the social media from Thursday night.
The recruitment meeting for IU transport office is scheduled to be held on March 4 and 5 and for the engineering office is scheduled to be held on March 11. But the procedures have been postponed after the scam.
IU acting registrar HM Ali Hasan told UNB that they postponed the recruitment boards due to unavoidable reasons and the date and time for the boards would be informed later.
Earlier, the university authorities on Sunday postponed the recruitment tests for medical officer scheduled for today, physical education and sports science department scheduled for February 22 and the mass communication and journalism department scheduled for February 22 as three audio clips of the conversations between the vice-chancellor and a job seeker for journalism department had gone viral.
20 hurt in clash between two BCL factions while paying homage at CU
A clash broke out in Chittagong University in the first hour of 21st February between two factions of Bangladesh Chhatra League over paying tributes at Shaheed Minar.
The clash erupted at around 1 a.m. on Tuesday, which left 20 activists injured, said the leaders of the two groups.
According to campus sources, these two groups- ‘brothers’ and ‘Moku’- are sub-factions of BCL’s CU unit’s Bijoy group.
While the leaders and activists of ‘brothers’ group were on their way to the university’s central Shaheed Minar the activists of ‘Moku’ group tried to bar them from going there, triggering the violence.
One of the injured was transferred to Chattogram Medical College and Hospital.
Delwar, an officer at CU Medical Centre, said a total of 20 people received treatment.
Delwar Hossain, a leader of a faction of Bijoy group said, “They had taken over our rooms. When we tried to talk about it, the situation turned violent.”
“They were trying to evict some of our activists from Alaol Hall for several days now and started chasing us today when we were going to the hall,” Hossain said.
Several leaders and activists from the ‘brothers’ group claimed they were attacked while carrying wreaths to the Shaheed Minar.
Although the groups were engaged in the clash for nearly two hours no one from the university administration was reportedly present there.
Dr. Shahidul Islam, acting Proctor of the university, said proctorial body and police went there and controlled the situation upon receiving information.
“We will look into the matter seriously if there’s a written complaint,” he said.
BCL-Torture: Prime accused appears before probe body
The leader and activist of Islamic University unit Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student organisation of the ruling Awami League, on Monday appeared before the probe body appointed by the university administration to reply to the allegations against them over ragging a fresher of Finance and Banking department of the university.
The prime accused, IU BCL unit vice-president Shanjida Chowdhury Ontora and her cohort Tabassum, appeared before IU probe body convener Professor Reba Mondol’s office at Mir Mosharraf Hossain Academic Building amid tight security measures in the morning.
The accused left the campus after her meeting with the probe committees formed by the university administration, IU proctor Professor M Shahadat Hossain Azad said.
Talking to UNB, Tabassum, cohort of Ontora, said, I told the investigation committee whatever happened on that day.’ She denied saying anything else.
Read: Islamic University: Victim of BCL torture returns to campus
Shanjida Chowdhury Ontora, however, declined to say anything regarding the allegations brought against them by the victim.
The probe body member secretary deputy registrar Alib Uddin of IU academic section, IU hall provost council president Professor Debashish Sharma and assistant proctor Murshid Alam Akash were present.
Professor Reba Mondol, convener of IU probe body, declined to say what they found in the investigation publicly.
They would try to submit their investigation report in time, she added.
Accused BCL leader Ontara and activist Tabassum left the hall following the High Court order on Thursday.
Kushtia district administration, however, formed a three member inquiry committee comprising additional district magistrate ANM Abujar Gifari, senior judicial magistrate Mahmuda Sultana and IU assistant proctor Shahbub Alam and asked it to submit its report within seven days following the High Court order.
Meanwhile, the pro-BNP teachers and officials of the university formed a human chain protesting at the ragging incident committed by the university unit BCL leader and activists.
They demanded immediate punishment of the accused involved in the incident through proper investigation.
Read: Two city college teachers quit under BCL pressure
On February 12 night, a group of BCL activists led by Ontora and her cohorts including Tabassum went to the victim’s room and reportedly assaulted and tortured her.
Ontora, at one stage, forced the victim to get undressed and videoed the incident on her mobile phone.
The BCL leader also threatened that she would make the video viral on social media if the victim disclosed the matter to anyone, according to the complainant.
The victim lodged a written complaint with the university administration, including the university proctor, student adviser and the hall provost, demanding punishment of those involved in the incident on February 14.
A writ petition was also filed by Gazi Mohammad Mohsin, an alumnus of the university and a lawyer, with the High Court on Thursday.
The HC on the same day ordered the accused to leave the hall and the university administration to look into the matter seriously, and submit a report in this regard within the next 10 days.
It also asked the deputy commissioner of Kushtia to form a three-member probe body to further inquire into the incident, and submit a report within the next seven days.