Photo : Collected
For the past few days, there has been a struggle to appoint new vice-chancellors in the country's universities. The new vice chancellor has already taken charge of Dhaka University. These vice-chancellors should first take the initiative on how to start the education program. All kinds of initiatives should be taken especially to bring back the education environment. Because students are away from the study table for a long time. They should be brought to the reading table as soon as possible.
Politicizing what happened in the university in the past would be an understatement. The university became an extension of whatever government there was. From the vice-chancellor to the janitor—everyone represented a political party. They had nothing else to do but respect that political party. They lost the sense of self-esteem that they are teachers. Our teachers' association also had the same situation. Here the ousting of the political party through a coup means their ouster too. We see that in universities. Teachers who have never been there for the students, resulting in terrible mistrust between students and teachers. Now how to establish the relationship of trust between students and teachers is the biggest challenge. There are not so many teachers who can ensure the relationship of trust with the students. Not only vice-chancellor but also administrative posts should be given to people who understand the students.
There are universities of different character in our country. Government universities, public universities, universities of science and technology and private universities—regardless of their character—universities need to be identified as institutions of higher learning. To be identified as a higher education institution, it is first necessary to make the university systematically research-oriented. The characteristics of the university for research, academic environment and salary structure of the teachers should be the same for all the universities as a whole.
Teacher politics is the biggest catalyst in creating an undemocratic environment in universities. The teacher politics is created around the teacher association, around the rank and file. The University brings forth administrative leadership based on a relationship of loyalty with the Vice-Chancellor in the University. The Vice-Chancellor is appointed on the basis of a relationship of loyalty to the Head of Government. Again, he brought his loyal teachers into administrative leadership after his appointment. The university needs to be freed from this structure of loyalty. Provost, House Tutor All types of selection should be done in an accountable and transparent process. But the Vice-Chancellor appoints these posts according to his wishes. If there is no change in these areas, there will be no change in teacher politics. So, the new vice-chancellors have to come out of the previous formula. Otherwise, it will be difficult to fix the environment of the university. But we hope, the new vice-chancellor will understand the language of students' minds. Even the dreams of the new generation will be fulfilled in the new Bangladesh.
Messenger/Fameema
