Juta splits on class boycott

Some Jahangirnagar University Teachers' Association (Juta) members recently declared and started attending classes after withdrawing support for the work abstention, which the association initiated on April 27 demanding the vice-chancellor's (VC) resignation.
This teachers' group, claiming to be some 30 in number, some pro-Awami League and some “Shikkhak Mancha” members, told this at a May 13 press conference and attended classes till yesterday. That day, the 606-member Juta declared holding only final exams but no classes.
The work abstention began over Juta's allegation that VC Prof Anwar Hossain failed to keep his word and was misleading teachers and students over three incidents since the Senate elected him on July 20, 2012.
JU burst into violence first on August 1, 2012 centring the stabbing of a student and subsequent police firing on students. On February 12 this year, students vandalised campus' structures over another student's death.
The last incident was an assault on a teacher by a JU unit Bangladesh Chhatra League leader on April 6. The teachers resuming classes said the leader's expulsion, not the VC's resignation, would bring stability.
Prof Anwar, at a recent press conference, apologised to teachers for withdrawing his earlier temporary expulsion order of the BCL leader and said legal steps would be taken once the Senate goes through a report an independent probe body submitted over the incident.