Recruitment of varsity teachers must be apolitical

THE government plan that public universities should take written test and oral exams for recruitment of meritorious teachers to curb irregularities and make a proper assessment of the applicants’ merit makes sense. Its emphasis for police verification whether or not the candidates have any criminal record is also important. But the fact that whether the candidates were ever engaged in anti-government activities appears to have mixed such criteria with anti-state activities. We believe strict recruitment process is essential but anti-government and anti-state activities must have different perspectives. Anybody can be critical to the government by his political belief as a conscious citizen but he can’t be treated as anti-state if he fulfills other qualifications.
 
Our public universities have less qualified teachers recruited over the past decade by the authorities based on candidates’ affiliation with ruling party politics. If the propped system can really maintain its apolitical character, which is unthinkable in our situation, such initiative can be really a good step to improve the standard of teaching and develop the quality education more than any other action in this regard. So it depends on what motive the government bears in mind. We must however say the present recruitment mostly on political loyalty without requisite qualifications must end to end the degradation of standard of education at our public universities.

They now appear to be the dens of corruption and irregularities. As per media reports six leading universities — Chittagong University, Rajshahi University, Jagannath University, the Islamic University, the Begum Rokeya University, and the Patuakhali Science and Technology University — recruited over 1,000 teachers and staff members during the last five years who have not only dubious qualifications but also their numbers exceeded the vacancies. Recruitments were also done reportedly without approval of the University Grants Commission (UGC) and they are now facing problems to arrange salaries for the extra staff. But nepotism and lobbying of party leaders made these appointments possible having adverse impact on qualified teachers who are mostly leaving the country to escape from degrading academic atmosphere.

VCs in our public universities are now selected for loyalty to the ruling party politics and very poorly run because of their limited leadership to make these universities the center of excellence. There is hardly any research and development opportunity and credible efforts to change our education that will take the universities at per with universities in the region and at global level. We are deceiving ourselves claiming Dhaka University as the Oxford of the East, which was however never so in terms of quality of education but in terms of its large residential accommodation.

In our view the realization of the government that teachers recruitment system must change is a timely one but how they will make it merit based and apolitical is to be seen.