Students from Dhaka’s seven major government colleges will again observe a blockade program this Thursday, demanding the formal issuance of the ordinance for the proposed Dhaka Central University.

Under the banner of the Seven Colleges University Transformation Movement, the demonstrations will take place at Science Lab intersection, Technical Morh, and Tantibazar intersection in the capital.

One of the student leaders of the movement, Naim Howladar, told the media on Wednesday that the blockade is scheduled to begin between 12:00 pm and 12:30 pm today.

According to the prior announcement, a large number of students from the colleges staged similar blockades on Wednesday at Science Lab, Technical Morh, and Tantibazar. Additionally, a brief road blockade was also carried out in the Mohakhali area.

Due to the demonstrations at these key points of Dhaka, severe traffic congestion developed on the surrounding roads, causing significant hardship for commuters and drivers.

On Wednesday, students blocked Science Lab intersection around 1:00 pm, while the blockade at Technical Morh in Mirpur began at approximately 12:30 pm. The Tantibazar intersection in Old Dhaka was blocked around 11:45 am. Besides, some students from Titumir College temporarily blocked roads in Mohakhali for about ten minutes around 1:00 pm.

The protesters left Technical Morh at around 3:30 pm, Tantibazar shortly after 3:15 pm, and finally cleared Science Lab intersection at 5:40 pm.

The students insist that during today’s advisory council meeting, the updated draft of the Dhaka Central University ordinance must be approved and the final ordinance issued through the President.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education has stated that the revised draft of the proposed ordinance was sent to the Ministry of Public Administration last Tuesday. The draft will be placed before the advisory council after obtaining policy-level approval from the Cabinet Division and legal vetting by the Ministry of Law.

The crisis surrounding the seven colleges has persisted since 2017, following their affiliation with the University of Dhaka without adequate preparation. The colleges involved are Dhaka College, Eden Mohila College, Begum Badrunnesa Government Girls’ College, Shaheed Suhrawardy College, Kabi Nazrul Government College, Government Bangla College, and Titumir College.