IT has now become news how public universities have been recruiting teachers and staff without justification or qualifications, not to mention they are doing it right under the nose of the University Grants Commission (UGC). The UGC has no time or sense of duty to supervise how the educational initiatives are being defeated. It seems under the present government which just remains seated in power without the need of electoral support, everybody is free to do things in their own way.
Famous institutions like Chittagong University, Rajshahi University, Jagannath University, Islamic University of Kushtia and Begum Rokeya University are amongst those tainted with unethical and unjustified recruitment practices that have been exposed by UGC officials and Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB). According to reports, over 1,000 teachers and staff have been recruited without UGC’s approval (which was much more than the number actually required in the last 5 years). Even though the exact number of vacancies that was cited in advertisements, the actual number of teachers recruited were higher in number, which caused an immense financial stress on the funding authorities. TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman said meritocracy suffered due to such recruitment and that it is unacceptable as ‘it will make educational institutions questionable’. According to the UGC chairman, the budget for higher education is very limited, making up less than 1% of the total budget every year. This makes arrangement and payment of the salaries to the unnecessary staff very difficult. As the UGC refused to pay for extra staff recruited without its approval, the universities employing them had to resort to raising money from other questionable sources, including evening shift work and spending funds allocated for other work.
According to astonishing confessions, a former vice-chancellor of a reputed public university, admitted to have given appointments to 11 of his relatives (including his daughter, niece and 2 brother-in-laws) during his tenure. Reports indicate that this is just a tip of the iceberg as countless appointments like these have occurred over the years which has affected the quality of education at the universities which had good reputation to be proud of.
We must forbid politics in the administration of universities. Vice-Chancellors must be appointed for character and quality and not for their political biasness.
