Masum Billah :
Primary education forms the base of the students while secondary education serves as the body of education and higher education definiltey plays the role of the brain. Our primary education till today miserably failed to form the base of students, secondary education witnesses a haphazard situation and higher seats of learning hardly see any sign of modern, time testing education in this age of globalization. Some private universities at least trying to keep pace with the globalized education but they seriously lag behind research. Public universities are going through a dire state due to so-called politics. When all the three tiers of education wintess such kind of misery and poverty, what is our future in education?
When people have lost interest discussing the affairs of public universities most private universities are involved in financial, administrative and academic corruption. Private universities are said to have been ‘non-profitbale’ organizations but some authorities have taken it as a source of income machine. However, I personally think ‘the tag of non-profitable’ organization should be removed from private universities. They will definitely do business maintaining the set standards of universities. The ugly political claws have vitiated and marred the entire educational atmosphere in the public universities that must not be allowed, in any way, in private universisites and the authorities should be extremely alert of this phenomenon. As the powerful and politically influential people of the society obtain persmission to establish private universities, politics will automatically come there. This is why many of such universities don’t bother about the rules and regulations set by UGC.
In the private University Act the duties and responsibiliites of the members of Trusty Board, VC, Pro-VC and the Treasurer have categorically been mentioned and VC is the chielf executive officer of a private university who will look after education and administrative activities. In the decision-making process also, VC plays a vital role. But the Trusy Board does not allow VCs in some universities to exercise his own freedom and decision. Some universities have made ‘dumi VC just to control all the activities of the university. Some trustees want to be VCs by themselves just to control and enjoy the entire authority of the university. There is a rule to send three names to the Chancellor for appointing VC but it is not followed. Some trustee board members send their own names along with two another `dumi’ names to become VCs just to enjoy power. Even when some VCs are appointed, trustee boards hardly give them any opportunity to work feely. Some members of the board of trusty have been reported to receive seating allowance, buy gorgeious car and have earned the bad name of returing it to the university. Teacher constraint and selling certificates are also other forms of corruption. These universities could be our source of earning foreign currency inviting students from surrounding countries and that happened in case of some private universities and this trend must continue. We are afraid of decreasing the number of foreign students because of the corruption recently surfaced in various private universities. Even money laundering is being done by some unverisities as newspaper reports say.
Universities must stand as an enitity diffusing the light of knowledge, education and expose the supreme form of civilization, center for research, exercising restraint, love, sympathy, morality to create ideal human beings since they have been here to change themselves. But alas! What we see in our sacred campus? We bleed to see the extreme opposite pictures in our campuses particularly in the state-owned ones. The pupils use fire arms in their hands and pockets instead of bearing books and pen and they dominate the entire university including teachers and administration where research and the exercise of knolwdge and research get banished. Students spend their time in chasing and couter chasing among different groups just to show their brutal power and gain the financial ends. VCs are employed mostly on political grounds that seriously further damamges the face of universities and this situation stand as a barrier to fulful the objectis and functions of the highest seats of learning. Against these backdrops of public universiites, private universities were born with the mission to bring about some positive changes in this sector and initially some of them also tried to show something different. With the passage of time things have started shaping the same way as private universities do. This makes huge scope of discussion.
Universities must be a place of open discussion, have open playgroup, open political stage, scope for learning politics, science, religion, global knowledge, free space for exericising cultural activities, place of learning real leadership and place becoming leader of society, country and humanity. But alas! Our universities have become the danes of political goons, mastans and extortionists. In the name of politics, we have turned our sacred campuss into hell where bright students, general students have to suffer and digest the filty words, tortures and punishments of various types of the political goons. They have to obey the cruel and jangal orders of so-called student leaders and cadres. All these are the features of our public universities in spite of having their big infrastructure, libray, playgroup, space of exericising cultural acitives. All these have been vitiatied by the corrupt political touch. Private unviersities could have created brighter examples taking lessons from these nasty aspects lying in public universities. It is really sad enough to see that private universisites have also become the victims of politics that has encouraged serious administrative and financial corruption.
Giving on mass permission to build universities defnitley tends to demean the quality of education. Still, influential people are obtaining permission to establish universities principally for earning money. When it happens, the culture and exercise of knowledge, humanity and research will disappear from the campus and that is actually happening now in our private universities showing they are not lagging behind the public universities in the race of corruption.
(Masum Billah is Country Director- Volunteers Association for Bangaldesh and President- English Teachers’ Association of Bangladesh).
