Rejecting the recently formed committee, Bangladesh Technical Students’ Movement, has announced a countrywide programme of demonstrations, protests, and sit-ins at key points in every district on Wednesday (September 17).

The announcement was made by the organisation’s president, Md Mashfiq Islam, at a press conference held Tuesday (Sept 16) at the Dhaka Polytechnic Institute’s conference room.

Mashfiq Islam said diploma engineers have a proud 150-year history of contributing to various sectors of the country, yet the three-point demand put forward by the “Engineering Rights Movement” is harmful to them. 

He alleged that the demands aim to disrupt the upcoming national election and hinder ongoing state reforms.

At the press conference, organisers highlighted that although, on paper, 33% of diploma engineers are eligible for promotion from 10th to 9th grade, in practice only 15–17% achieve it. Many never reach the position of assistant engineer before retirement. 

Mashfiq Islam further alleged that the “Engineering Rights Movement” regularly spreads misinformation and obstructs diploma engineers from using their legitimate designations, which he described as a violation of both gazette notification and national law.

He criticised the government’s August 27 decision to form an eight-member committee and a 14-member working committee, claiming that BSc engineers were overrepresented while diploma engineers were given too few seats. 

In the September 7 meeting, he said, eight BSc engineers attended despite an agreement for equal representation — most of whom, he added, were not students. The schedule published on September 15 also included a larger number of BSc engineers compared to diploma engineers.

Mashfiq alleged that the sole purpose of forming the committee was to implement the BSc engineers’ three-point demand, which diploma engineers will never accept.

He called for urgent implementation of the six-point demand put forward by the Technical Students’ Movement. These include restructuring and renaming the craft instructor positions with proper recruitment rules, forming a Technical Education Reform Commission, and addressing internal sectoral issues. 

SMS/