United News of Bangladesh

Professor Muhammad Mahboob Ali, coordinator of the entrepreneurship economics program at the Dhaka School of Economics (DScE), said students need to learn the spirit of entrepreneurship from micro and small entrepreneurs. He said this as the DScE Saturday organised a field trip for sharing experiences of the cottage and small entrepreneurs with the masters and diploma students of entrepreneurship economics. The students visited different upazilas of Narsingdi and tried to assess microfinance's impact on the villages among low-income groups. They also went for practicum in handloom factories in Jamdani Palli and Boutique Palli. They also tried to assess the difference between the prices at the wholesale market in Narsingdi and New Market in Dhaka city. DScE assistant professors Rehana Parvin, Sara Tasneem, and Lecturer Shamim Ahmad led the field trip.    

A case was filed against 500 unnamed people in connection with the clash between Rajshahi University students and locals on Saturday night. Abdus Salam, registrar of Rajshahi University, filed the case at Motihar police station on Sunday, said Hafizur Rahman Hafiz, officer-in-charge of the police station. "Action will be taken against those involved in the clash after investigation," said the OC. Besides, 92 students of the university are now receiving treatment at Rajshahi Medical College and Hospital. Of them, Rakib was shifted to the Incentive Care Unit (ICU) as his condition deteriorated, said RMCH Director Dr F M Shamim Ahmed. "But now he is out of danger", he added. Earlier on Sunday, the students of the university blocked the Dhaka-Rajshahi highway to protest the “attack on them by locals and police” last night. Members of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) were deployed on the highway to control the situation, UNB’s RU correspondent said. In addition, the students demonstrated in front of the administrative building of the university and locked the building to protest last night’s clash involving locals of Binodpur and the students of Rajshahi University. At least 200 students were injured during the clash. The protesting students shouted slogans with their six-point demand, calling for justice. Their demands are: justice for the attack on RU students by locals and police, stopping the entry of outsiders in the university and ensuring safety of the students, ensuring on-campus accommodation for all students, ensuring proper treatment of the injured students, taking necessary measures within 24 hours of the incident, and ensuring student representation in forming university policies. According to the university sources, the students staged a sit-in protest in front of the Senate Building after holding a protest march on the campus to talk with the authorities. Later, they blocked the Vice Chancellor Professor Dr. Golam Shabbir Sattar, the Pro Vice-Chancellor Prof. Md. Sultan-Ul-Islam, and Prof. M. Humayun Kabir for two hours in front of Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmed Senate building. VC Prof Golam Sabbir Sattar urged the students to stop the demonstration. However, the agitating students rejected his request and asked him to resolve the issue. Amanullah Khan, a student of Population Science and Human Resource Development department of the university, said, “Police were largely inactive in the incident, rather they threw tear gas shells and fired rubber bullets at us. Taking advantage of their inaction, local thugs attacked us. The agitation will continue if our demands are not met.”  He demanded the resignation of the university’s proctorial body and the student advisor.

A group of Rajshahi University students set fire to railway tracks on Sunday night following the clash between students and locals, halting rail communication between Rajshahi and Dhaka. Around 8pm, the students set fire to the rail line near the Faculty of Fine Arts of the university, Rajshahi Railway Station Super Abdul Karim said. Rajshahi-bound Madhumoti Express got stuck at Haryana Railway Station following the incident, he added. Besides, Banglabandha Express, which was scheduled to depart from Rajshahi at 9:30 pm, also got stranded at Rajshahi Railway Station. The station super also expressed doubt about the departure of Dhumketu Express, which is scheduled to leave for Dhaka at 11:00 pm. The clashes took place in the city's Binodpur area near the university campus on Saturday, leaving at least 200 students injured. Earlier on Sunday, the students of the university blocked the Dhaka-Rajshahi highway to protest the “attack on them by locals and police” last night. Members of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) were deployed on the highway to control the situation, UNB’s RU correspondent said.

The results of the admission test for MBBS((Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) course at the country’s public and private medical colleges for academic session 2022-23 were published on Sunday with 35.34% pass rate. Health Minister Zahid Maleque announced the results at a press briefing at the auditorium of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). Read: Initiating students to the ‘Smart Bangladesh’ vision: Nat’l STEAM Olympiad to start on March 15 A total of 49,194 candidates came out successful in this year’s MBBS admission test. Some 1,35,800 admission seekers participated in the admission test. The health minister said there are a total of 11,122 seats- 4,350 at 37 public medical colleges and 6,772 at 71 private medical colleges-across the country.        

The admissions tests for MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) will be held on Friday (March 10,2023). The one-hour MCQ exam will start at 10:00am at 19 centres across the country, according to Bangladesh Medical & Dental Council (BM&DC). A total of 1,39,217 applicants will compete for 11,122 seats in the medical college admission test this year. Of them, 74,953 are girls and 64,264 are boys. Examinees will have to enter their respective centres at least half-an-hour before starting the exam. Besides, examinees will not be allowed to carry mobile phones or any other devices in the centres. To conduct the admission tests smoothly and transparently, a management committee was formed with renowned teachers and physicians.  

An audio conversation between Islamic University vice-chancellor Professor Shaikh Abdus Salam and a person again went viral on Facebook early Tuesday. The audio conversation between the vice-chancellor and a person was shared from a Facebook account named Farah Jebin where the VC was heard saying to the person over phone that he would make the relative of the person first or second in the university’s economics department recruitment board. But the candidate will have to meet the recruitment requirements, the VC said. He told the person to ask his relative to meet with him after applying for the post by giving his (the person) reference. Campus sources said that a total of ten audio clips containing conversations between the vice-chancellor and different persons including a job seeker of Mass Communication and Journalism Department went viral on social media from February 16 to March 7. The university administration postponed the recruitment process of its three departments on February 19 following the audio leak. The recruitment test for the IU transport office and engineering office was also postponed due to the leaked audio conversations on February 22. The Islamic University Teachers’ Association and Shapla Forum, a progressive teachers’ alliance, have submitted written statements to the vice-chancellor to know about his leaked audio conversation on February 18. Shahbub Alam, a job seeker of the IU finance and banking department, on February 27 lodged a written complaint to the chairman of Anti-Corruption Commission against the university vice-chancellor over irregularities in recruiting teachers at the finance and banking department. IU vice-chancellor Professor Shaikh Abdus Salam told UNB that he did not hear the audio conversations going viral on social media. ‘There are my authorities, the University Grants Commission and the government. They would look into the matter,” he added. IU acting registrar HM Ali Hasan filed a general diary with the Islamic University police station in this connection on February 17 night after an audio clip containing conversation between the VC and a job seeker of the IU Mass Communication and Journalism Department had gone viral.

The National STEAM Olympiad for students of all levels in Bangladesh is going to start on March 15. A press conference, in this regard, was organized today at the VIP Hall of National Press Club. In collaboration with the Ministry of Education, iTesseract Technologies is working as the initiator, organizer and implementer of the competition. Calling STEAM education “as the main pillar of digital and smart Bangladesh,” Chief Executive Officer of iTesseract Technologies Mohammad Abdul Hamid said that STEAM education’s main goal is to develop the workforce for the fourth industrial revolution. He also said that the mission and vision of the National STEAM Olympiad is to encourage all students to develop awareness and skillsets to prepare for the upcoming challenges and changes related to the fourth industrial revolution (4IR). Students of all levels can participate in the Olympiad – in three rounds on eight topics. The winners of each category will have a chance to win a prize of Tk 2 lakh as the 1st prize, Tk 1 lakh and 50 thousand for the first runner-up and second runner-up respectively. The rules of participation in the competition and other related information can be found on the website: www.nationalsteamolympiad.com. The organizers also shared the objectives of National Steam Olympiad. They said one of the objectives is to increase STEAM awareness among the youngsters. It will prepare the youths by utilizing the opportunities presented by the fourth industrial revolution and motivate them in higher education, problem solving, innovation and research in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) related subjects to contribute to the implementation of the ‘Smart Bangladesh’ by 2041 goal. The Olympiad will make students interested in hands-on practical learning as well as help them to be more humane and responsible, they added. Education Minister Dr. Dipu Moni is the main patron of the National Steam Olympiad. Renowned science and information technology expert and member of the University Grants Commission, Professor Dr. Sajjad Hossain, presided over the press conference. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Bangladesh Satellite Company Limited Shahjahan Mahmud was present as the chief guest. Bangabandhu Digital University Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr. Mahfuzul Islam; BUET Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr. Abdul Jabbar Khan; Professor of Dhaka University Lafifa Jamal; ADN Group Chairman Asif Mahmud; Smart Group Chairman Mazharul Islam; Dell Country Director Atiqur Rahman, among others, were present.

A clash between students of three colleges in the capital left at least 10 injured. The clash began around 1 pm today in front of Ideal College when some of their students got into an altercation with students of Dhaka College who were passing by Ideal College. Some students of Ideal College launched the attack based on previous hostility, according to witnesses. The students of City College got involved at one stage when they joined the clash on the side of the Ideal College students. As a result, the Science Lab crossing, which had just witnessed a fire in the morning, turned into a hotspot which created a long traffic jam in the surrounding areas like Nilkhet, Shahbagh and New Market. During the clash extra personnel of police were moved to Science Lab crossing and New Market to bring the situation under control. It took till 4pm for the police to bring the situation under control and to allow vehicles to start moving again. Dhaka College students said the students of Ideal College attacked finding them outnumbered. Prof. Mohammad Yousuf, principal of Dhaka College, told UNB: "We do not know the exact number of injured students but we have admitted some of our students to the hospital and handed over some of our students to their parents." "Generally the HSC students get involved in such clashes but today senior students also took part in the clash as a bus of Dhaka College named Bijoy Ekattor was vandalised," he added. A few days ago some students of Ideal College vandalised the Dhaka College bus, in retaliation for what they described as bullying. In response, the students of Dhaka College extracted the name plate of Ideal College and brought it to their campus. Today's incident was the sequel to that. "Such incidents are totally unexpected and it is painful that when such incidents take place we try to control our boys and pacify them, but the teachers of City College and Ideal College never do this. Without their help it is impossible to control such situations," he responded to a query of UNB. "In this regard, we have to talk to law enforcement agencies and the education secretary to solve such problems," he added. After the clash, Dhaka College announced a day off for no specific reason, although Prof. Yousuf told UNB they did it to normalise the situation and obstruct the flow of violence. "We only cancelled the classes, other activities like exams and Viva will be held accordingly," he said. The newly appointed principal of Ideal College, Prof. Amjad Hossain, told UNB: "We could not identify any solid reason for this incident. Four to five students of our college have been injured today." Asked what they were thinking about such incidents, he said, "We had a meeting with the teachers of Dhaka College. We have decided to punish those students who are involved in such incidents." Ideal College also announced March 6 as a day off following today's clash. Students and teachers admitted that such tensions are a regular phenomenon between the students of Dhaka College and City College but today's incident is different as the clash was initiated by the students of Ideal College.

NASA has recognised the contributions of the Landsat 9 calibration/validation team with the Robert H Goddard Award – Science. The combined Landsat Cal/Val Team is led by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center and also includes South Dakota State University, Rochester (New York) Institute of Technology, the University of Arizona, and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Manisha Das Chaity who is now doing her PhD at Rochester and a former student of the Khulna University of Engineering Technology (KUET) also worked on this project as one of the key members. Read: JU VC nominated for 'ATN Bangla Unnayan Bangladesh Award'

Jahangirnagar University Vice-Chancellor Prof.Dr Nurul Alam has been nominated for ‘ATN Bangla Unnayan Bangladesh Award 2022' for his significant role in education. This was confirmed in a notification signed by Mohiuddin Ahmed, acting director of Jahangirnagar University Public Relations Office. Read: JU pharmacy students suffering due to session jam The award ceremony programme will be held at Bangladesh Film Development Corporation (BFDC) building on Sunday (March 5) at 6pm, said the notification. Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anisul Huq will hand over the award to the recipients as the Chief Guest. Mahfuzur Rahman, chairman of ATN Bangla will preside over the award ceremony, it added.