DU students protest govt official’s remark
A section of Dhaka University students yesterday formed a human chain, protesting remark of a senior official of Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock regarding the recent study on milk conducted by Pharmacy faculty.
Some teachers also joined the human chain, held at the base of Aparajeyo Bangla on the campus, under the banner of “Students of Dhaka University”.
Speaking at the progarmme, Dean of Pharmacy faculty, Prof ASM Abdur Rahman termed the remark made by the secretary “very insulting”.
“It is a teacher’s duty to conduct research. If the teachers are threatened like this without any scrutiny of the research, then how will they be able to conduct research for public interest?” he questioned.
“To verify whether the test results are true or not, one has to conduct another study. No one can make such remark without doing so. A teacher knows better than a secretary about how to conduct a research,” said Prof Rahman.
He also said teachers will be discouraged if they are being threatened for conducting research.
“Our researches should be problem-related and public-interest oriented. But if a government official threatens teachers like this, teachers would lose interest in research.”
Chayon Barua, a final year student of Microbiology department, said, “It is not logical to make generalised comment on any research result for anyone’s own interest.”
A senior official of Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock on Tuesday threatened to take legal action against Dhaka University researchers, if they fail to show their study -- that found presence of detergent in milk found at the market -- published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Earlier last month, researchers of DU’s Pharmacy faculty and Biomedical Research Centre said they found detergent and antibiotics for humans in packaged milk -- both pasteurised and unpasteurised -- available in kitchen markets and grocery shops.
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