The affiliation of seven colleges to the Dhaka University will be cancelled ending all academic and administrative ties between the varsity and these seven colleges.

Segregating from the university was one of the main demands of the students who were involved in a clash with the varsity students and the Dhaka Police late on Sunday night following a meeting with the university’s pro vice-chancellor, Mamun Ahmed.

While the students of the seven colleges were on a sit-in demonstration Monday, vice chancellor Niaz Ahmed and principals of the colleges held an emergency meeting where they took the decision.

The students gave the Dhaka University and the interim government under Mohammad Yunus a four-hour ultimatum to decide on their demands, which also included the resignation of the vice-chancellor and a probe against the police officers allegedly involved in last night’s attack.

Apart from announcing the decision to cancel the affiliations, Ahmed did not reply to questions about the other demands, including his resignation.

The students of these seven colleges have been demanding cancelling the quota system during admissions into these colleges starting from 2024-25 session, no admission to students beyond the capacity of each classrooms and admissions according to the teacher-student ratio, considering negative markings during admission tests and taking financial management, including depositing fees, outside the purview of the university.

On 17 February 2017, Dhaka College, Eden Women’s College, Government Shahid Suhrawardy College, Kavi Nazrul government college, Bangla government college and Titumir government colleges were brought under the purview of Dhaka university from the National university. There are around two lakh students enrolled in these seven colleges with about a thousand teachers.

A large group of students went to meet the pro vice-chancellor at his office on Sunday night and an altercation followed. A heated exchange took place between the varsity official and the students over a prolonged period.

Around 10 pm, students from these seven colleges assembled near the science lab and marched towards Mamun’s residence to seek his apology.

Half an hour later when the college students reached the Mukti Toron, the Dhaka University’s entrance near the Nilkhet book market, university students living at the AF Rahman Hall were on the other side of the gate waiting armed with sticks.

When the college students broke the barriers set up by the cops, the varsity senior chased them away.

The college students fled and took shelter inside the Dhaka college before making another attempt to breach the university gate. The Dhaka Police alleged the college students hurled bricks at the AF Rahman hall students and the cops.

The chase involving both the set of students and the cops continued for nearly two hours. The police fired tear gas shells and sound grenades to disperse the students from both the camps.

Following the clashes, authorities deployed over 200 police members and four platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) members in Nilkhet and New Market, surrounding the university campus. Power connectivity was switched off.

The agitating college students vacated the area around 2.45 am. They had threatened to hold road blocks outside their respective colleges.

The administration has cancelled all exams scheduled for Monday at the university and the seven colleges, for the day.

“We did not want to inconvenience the people. If all our demands are not met we will be forced to go for a stronger movement,” Dhaka college student leader Abdur Rahman told the Bangladesh daily Prothom Alo.