Most of them do not take approval from primary institutions
More than 3,000 public university teachers, mostly without approval, take classes in private universities, ignoring their primary institutions that hugely hampers academic activities in universities, University Grants Commission officials said.
The commission in its latest annual report said, ‘Some of the public university teachers spend more time at the private universities than at their own universities and such an involvement of teachers should be at a logical and acceptable level and there should be guidelines on part-time teaching and consultancy job for public university teachers.’
Most of the public university teachers are taking classes in private universities without approval from the public university authorities. Some of them are doing part-time jobs in more than four to five private universities at a time.
The Private University Act 2010 provisions that a teacher should have an approval from his main appointing authority for such jobs.
They are, according to commission officials, allowed to take part-time class only in one other than his primary university and they would need to give about 10 per cent of their earnings to the main university.
The commission chairman, AK Azad Chowdhury, said, ‘If teachers take classes in more than one university for only money, they are not doing justice to the public money and the university. This is unacceptable.’
‘Both public and private universities are affected as teachers do part-time job in in more than one universities other than theirs. Teachers doing part-time jobs in several universities cannot give sufficient time to their mother institution,’ Azad Chowdhury said.
A commission’s private university wing senior assistant director said, ‘ More than 3,000 of part-time teachers in private universities are from public universities. Most of the teachers working outside are from faculties of business studies, law, science, social sciences and engineering.’
‘Some of them do part-time jobs in more than four to five private universities at a time,’ the official said.
A large number of public university teachers are engaged in part-time job in consultancy firms and non-governmental organisations.
The commission’s member (public university) Mohammad Mohabbat Khan said that they had no exact figure of how many public university teachers were taking classes in private universities.
‘Many private universities do not give full data on how many public university teachers take class in their institutions,’ he said.
‘Many of the teachers do not take approval from the appointing university authorities as they would need to pay a portion of the money to the university. Again many teachers teach in private institutions as advisers,’ Mohabbat said.
He said that at least 60 per cent of the teachers of business and social sciences faculties of Dhaka University were working part-time in private universities.
The commission’s annual report 2011, which is the latest and published in November 2012, said that 51 private universities had 10,255 teachers and 3,258 of whom are part-timers. Of the part time teachers, 998 are professors, 553 are associate professors, 629 assistant professors and 1078 are lecturers.
Commission officials said that the position bad worsened as at least 20 more private universities had received approval between 2011 and July 2013.
The Dhaka University registrar, Syed Rezaur Rahman, failed to give how many Dhaka University teachers were teaching in private universities and how many had taken their approval.
The deputy registrar, Abdul Kuddus Bhyuiyan, said, ‘Although a large number of teachers now work in private universities and firms, only a few follow the due legal process in place in the university.’
The DU vice-chancellor, AAMS Arefin Siddique, said, ‘It is unfair for public university teachers to take classes in private universities without the approval of the authorities concerned. We will take necessary action against them.’
The Jahangirnagar University deputy registrar, Arif Hossain, said that about 40 teachers had taken permission for teaching in private universities.
The Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology registrar, AKM Maksud, told New Age that almost all of about 450 teachers in BUET were taking classes or doing consultancy jobs.
He, however, failed to say how many teachers were taking classes in private universities.
Dhaka University professor emeritus Anisuzzaman said, ‘It is unethical that public university teachers teach in private universities without approval. Teaching in public universities is a full-time job. Teachers have many activities with students in addition to teaching.’
Former Dhaka University vice-chancellor Maniruzzaman Miah said that there should be guidelines on teacher’s part-time teaching in private universities and consultancy job in private farms.
‘A teacher should not do anything that could hamper academic activities of the main university,’ he said.
Azad Chowdhury, however, said that many of the teachers were engaged in teaching in private universities or in consultancy jobs because of their poor salary structures.
The Association of Private Universities of Bangladesh chairman CM Shafi Sami said that all part-time teachers should take approval from their main authorities. ‘There is a dearth of qualified teachers in universities. This is why private universities hire teachers from outside.’
Azad Chowdhury said that the number of permanent teacher in private universities was not increasing to a satisfactory level for which teachers of public universities are engaged in teaching in private universities. ‘Private universities will need to overcome the limitations.’
-With New Age input
