Militancy: Govt to sit with VCs of public universities

The government has invited the vice-chancellors of all public universities on July 23 to discuss how to tackle the menace of militancy, the education minister said today.

Nurul Islam Nahid disclosed it after a meeting with chairman of University Grants Commission (UGC) Prof Abdul Mannan at the Secretariat.

ALSO READ: 'Govt calls for meeting with pvt universities'

The minister told reporters that the meeting will be held at the International Mother Language Institute at Shegun Bagicha in Dhaka on July 23.

The government has already organised a meeting with private universities on similar issue, which is likely to be held on July 17, a top official told The Daily Star yesterday.

NSU decision on scraping studentship not satisfactory: Minister

Regarding the decision of North South University that is to strip studentship of anybody found absent for a semester without valid reasons is not satisfactory, Minister Nahid opined.

"After scrutiny, the university authorities should take necessary actions against those who will remain absent for 10 days consecutively," he added.

READ MORE: NSU might scrap studentship if absent for 1 semester

There were many allegations against NSU in the past, but issues of militancy were not "so much discussed" like it is being done now, Nahid said.

"We are very much aware of it now," he added.

Earlier, the recommendation for scrapping the studentship of anybody for absence for a semester without valid reasons was taken at an emergency meeting at the North South University on July 10 in the light of its students' involvement in terrorist activities.