The movement Jahangirnagar University teachers have carried out against vice-chancellors in two years has almost paralysed the campus creating fears among students for a prolonged academic life. There has been several rounds of movement against vice-chancellors on the campus since December 2011. Groups of teachers rallying against the incumbent vice-chancellor Anwar Hossain, who assumed office of the university in May 2012 after Shariff Enamul Kabir had resigned in the face of protests by students and teachers over ‘irregularities’ and ‘nepotism’ in teacher appointment.
But the students kept bearing the brunt as classes and examinations had not been held for two months at a stretch since December 2011. Students had already been a year behind their academic course and teachers’ movements were set to push therm further behind in their academic life, students said.
Anwar began to face movement in a month after being appointed the vice-chancellor when he took initiatives to hold the vice-chancellor panel elections. The teachers were continuing with their movement till Thursday.
The Jahangirnagar University Teachers’ Association is to go on a strike on the campus from today as the university reopens after an 11-day holiday on the occasion of Durga Puja and Eid-ul-Azha.
The association’s president Ajit Kumar Majumder said, ‘If the vice-chancellor does not resign by October 20, we will initiate an all-out strike on October 22. ‘There is no place for the incumbent vice-chancellor on the campus,’ he said.
Teachers and former vice-chancellors of the university said that personal liking and dislike, unhealthy competition for positions such as the vice-chancellor, pro-vice-chancellors, deans and others, lack of tolerance among the teachers, the vice-chancellor’s poor managerial capabilities pushed the university into a complex situation.
A syndicate member of the university told New Age that some teachers did not welcome Anwar as he was a teacher of Dhaka University.
The University Grants Commission chairman, AK Azad Chowdhury, termed the situation unfortunate. ‘I do not understand why there have been movements in Jahangirnagar University at regular intervals in the past two years,’ he said.
‘We are concerned about students. We do not know whether teachers or vice-chancellors were right but if teachers have grievances, they should sit together, discuss the matters and sort them out,’ he said.
‘We have seen students’ movements hampering
campus activities. Now we have seen teachers so doing,’ Azad Chowdhury said.
JUTA leaders at an emergency meeting on Wednesday night decided to go on strike for an indefinite period in the university beginning October 22 if Anwar was not removed by October 20.
The association announced the programme protesting at the attack on teacher ‘in front of the vice-chancellor.’
Activists of pro-government student organisation Bangladesh Chhatra League on Wednesday attacked twice the teachers rallying for the resignation of the vice-chancellor.
Two groups of teachers, one led by the vice-chancellor, traded blame for the attack before a syndicate meeting about 4:30pm on the day.
Jahangirnagar University teachers teamed up as the General Teachers’ Forum held an eight day sit-in from October 1 in front of the vice-chancellor’s house.
The forum also confined the registrar and the deputy registrar to their offices from September 30 to October 8.
The forum had kept Anwar confined to his house from August 21 demanding his resignation but they had called off the programme on August 24 as the government assured them of launching an investigation of allegations that they had levelled against him.
The government had set up an inquiry commission which submitted its report on October 1.
The General Teachers’ Forum alleged that Anwar had not tried the incident of assault on teachers, had violated freedom fighter’s quota, recruited incompetent people as teachers, made harsh comments against teachers to the media, had not taken any steps about the violence that took place on August 1 and February 12, had ruined the campus environment, misused university funds, and forcibly entered the vice-chancellor’s office by ignoring the demonstrations of the teachers.
The teachers’ association since April 27 had demanded the resignation of the vice-chancellor, accusing him of not taking punitive measures against the university unit Chhatra League’s general secretary Razib Ahmed Russell for assaulting lecturer in economics Nurul Haque, also a syndicate member, on April 6.
At one point of the movement, on July 24, the High Court, in response to a petition filed by four teachers and a student, directed the university authorities to immediately take necessary steps for the continuation of day-to-day functions of the university.
The association then called off its agitation on July 30 but the General Teachers’ Forum was set up and the agitation continued.
Earlier in December 2011, teachers under the banner of Shikkhak Samaj started rallying for the resignation of the Shariff Enamul Kabir as vice-chancellor. The protests intensified after the killing of a student on the campus.
Chhatra League activists, said to be loyal to the vice-chancellor, tortured a fourth-year student of English, Zubayer Ahmed, on the campus on January 8, 2012 and he died in United Hospital early January 9.
The teachers on May 3, 2012 called off their protests after the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, assured them of resolving the crisis in consultation with the chancellor.
Enamul Kabir was appointed vice-chancellor in 2009 and he became controversial because of the recruitment of teachers on political grounds. Enamul recruited 200 teachers in three years.
Anwar Hossain termed teachers’ movement ‘irrational’ and ‘unacceptable.’ He said, ‘I am not worried about the teachers’ movement… Some teachers were implementing the programmes of Khaleda Zia.’
‘Some teachers are using the movement in their fight for power and grabbing positions of the vice-chancellor and pro-vice-chancellors, making the campus volatile,’ former vice-chancellor Abdul Bayes told New Age.
University teacher Anu Muhammad said, ‘Some vested interests were provoking the teachers so that the campus cannot remain stable. There were some financial connections with the positions of the vice-chancellor for which many are interested,’ he added.
He said that government should take effective steps to resolve the problem. ‘The government should keep public universities free of political influence,’ he said.
‘What is happening in JU is scandalous. A group of teachers have organised sit-ins and lockouts and brought the campus to a standstill. They have interest in unseating the present vice-chancellor and getting someone who will serve their narrow interests after being appointed the vice-chancellor,’ Rahnuma Ahmed, a former teacher of the university, said.
She said that to achieve their goals, they were mimicking the movement Shikkhak Samaj earlier but Shikkhak Samaj was protesting against the killing of JU student Zubayer, allegedly by activists of a BCL faction which enjoyed the patronage of the then vice-chancellor Shariff Enamul Kabir.
‘I think what is happening now has been made possible by what happened last year, by the government’s inability to step in quickly and resolve last year’s godfather VC problem. They should not have allowed it to drag on for months, to become a public spectacle,’ she said.
She added students are undoubtedly the worst sufferers but also impassioned and dedicated teachers are very worried at the catastrophic situation there.
‘It is obvious that the children of the ruling class are no longer educated in public universities. They just do not care if the public education system collapses,’ Rahnuma, also a columnist, said.
The education minister, Nurul Islam Nahid, said that the ministry had expected teachers to call off their protests and discharge their professional duties to restore congenial academic atmosphere.
In a statement on October 7, he also said that the government would take action to restore normalcy to the campus.
The commission has submitted its report and the ministry will take action in line with the report, Nahid said adding that the ministry had already begun examining the report.
Earlier on October 3, the minister, in a statement made in the parliament, urged the agitating teachers to call off their protests and said that otherwise the government would be compelled to apply laws.
Courtesy of New Age
