Students of Dhaka’s Viqarunnisa Noon School and College are protesting for a third day on Thursday (Dec 6) and announced that they will not return to classes until the authorities accept their six-point demands.
Agitated students have occupied a stretch of Bailey Road in front of the school, a top institution in Bangladesh, ratcheting up calls for the resignations of the teachers and prosecuting them of criminal offences.
Aritree Adhikari, a ninth grader, was found hanging from the ceiling of her home in the capital's Shantinagar on Monday (Dec 3) hours after she and her parents were allegedly humiliated by some teachers of the school on accusation of cheating an exam.
The death and the subsequent agitation, joined by parents, rocked the 66-year-old institute with demonstrations erupting from the next day.
On Thursday, the agitated students announced that they will not return to academic activities until their six demands are met.
“Three of our demands can be immediately implemented and the remaining will take time. We want a written assurance from the authorities over the demands which will take time,” Anushka Roy, a representative of the demonstrating students told the media at the scene.
She said one of their demands — stepping down of the principal and the members of the governing body— is yet to be met.
Over the arrest of one of the teachers, Roy said, “We are satisfied to see that actions have been taken. But we did not demand actions against any other teacher except for the principal.”
                                                                                                                The six-point demands

• Resignation of principal and prosecuting her for instigating the suicide of Aritree Adhikari;
• Counselling for students according to their individual needs;
• Teachers cannot under any circumstances create undue pressure on students mentally and physically;
• Teachers cannot threaten to expel students for trivial matters;
• Appointing counsellors for students, parents, teachers and staff of the school; Mandatory counselling for students in case of disciplinary issues;
• All governing body members have to step down as well as the principal and the school authorities have to publicly apologise for humiliating Aritree’s parents;

In a dramatic development, police arrested one of the three Viqarunnisa teachers, who are charged with provoking a student to take her own life, late on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, school authorities sacked Acting Principal Nazneen Ferdous, class teacher Hasna Hena, and morning shift in-charge Zinat Akhtar after Aritree's suicide sparked anger.
Later in the night, police arrested Hena, who was in-charge of the ninth grader’s class, at her Uttara home in the capital.
These actions came hours after the government scrapped benefits for the teachers under its monthly pay order (MPO) scheme and Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid instructed the school’s governing body to fire the teachers.