The number of students in public universities is increasing every year and authorities are struggling to provide them with accommodation in halls of residence as the universities can provide only a third of their students with residence. According to University Grants Commission’s 2012 annual report published on January 9, only 32 per cent students were provided with accommodation in the 32 public universities, excluding the National and the Open university.
In 2003, 43 per cent of the students had found accommodation in 21 public universities, according to the UGC report of 2003.
Meanwhile, according to the UGC annual reports, only 11 student halls have been added from 2010 to 2012 to the public universities, up from 152 to 163. In 2003, the number of halls in public universities was 113.
According to 2012 UGC annual report, which was handed over to the president, Abdul Hamid, on January 9, there are 34 public universities in the country. But for the National and Open universities, there were 1,97,278 students and 63,605 of them have accommodation facilities.
In 2007, there were 27 public universities with 1,63,004 students of which 57,339 had accommodation facilities – 35 per cent of total students.
In 2003, the 21 public universities had a total of 104,736 students and 46,255 of them had accommodation facilities, accounting for 43 per cent of the total number of students.
In the present situation, many students are forced to share seats in the halls while a half of the students need to live off-campus, which generally increases their living expenses.
The accommodation situation is so adverse that students living in halls and hostels often sleep on floors in guest rooms, mosques and prayer rooms, canteens, TV rooms and even on verandahs.
Students denied residential facilities often live in groups in rented flats and houses in various neighbourhoods close to their campus.
Abul Bashar, a fourth-year student of Dhaka University who reside off-campus, said that he often missed classes because of traffic congestion en route to the campus from his house.
‘I also rarely get to use the library or take part in campus life,’ he said, adding that he had to spend a large amount on house rent every month compared with what he would have spent if he had to residence on-campus.
Educational institutions say that they do not have enough funds to build halls required to provide students with residence.
The Begum Rokeya University vice-chancellor, AKM Nurun Nabi, said that there was a scarcity of halls to provide students with accommodation facilities as there was a budget crunch.
‘We are constructing two halls for students and some others are in planning stages,’ he added.
The University Grants Commission chair, AK Azad Chowdhury, said that such an acute accommodation crisis was affecting academic activities and suggested that halls should be built on public-private partnership schemes.
The UGC chairman blamed fund constraints for the inadequate number of halls.
Courtesy of New Age
