Residential students of Rajshahi University’s Begum Rokeya Hall on Saturday staged a sit-in in front of their hall demanding solutions to various problems they are facing, presenting a ten-point charter of demands.
The demands include cancelling the ‘evening law’ (whereby students have to be in their dorms by a certain time each evening or risk being locked out), better quality meals, fixing canteen mismanagement, allowing guests, alumni and residents of other halls to enter the premises, better WiFi, cleaner surroundings, clean washrooms, action against hall staff for misbehaving, allowing the students to stay in the hall for at least two months after the completion of Master's exams, resolving the problems in the reading room and arranging a kitchen for the students in the 'gono room'.
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Students reported that the meal price in the hall’s diner and canteen has been increased since the campus reopened, but the quality of food has not improved. Hall authority has been repeatedly informed but they are not taking any action.
Internet speed is very weak too. Hall staff misbehave when someone enters the hall after 7 pm. Mosquitoes and flies are on the rise as the washrooms and surroundings of the hall are not kept clean, students alleged.
The students also warned that they would go for a tougher movement if their demands are not met by November 23.
Later, student adviser Md Tareq Nur and proctor Md Liaket Ali came and asked for a few days to negotiate the problems but students refused.
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Then, under the pressure of the students, they held a meeting with the provost of Rokeya Hall. After the meeting, the students postponed their movement after getting assurance.
After the meeting, Rokeya Hall provost Dr Jayanti Rani Basak said, “The students have pressed home a few demands while some decisions have been taken to solve some of them. The administration will make a decision on the other demands.”
The authorities took three days to consider the demands. An overall final decision will be announced in the afternoon of November 23.