Colleges offering bachelor (honours) course and master’s courses, popularly known as university colleges affiliated to the National University, are struggling to provide students with quality education for lack of quality teachers and inadequate infrastructure.
Many of such colleges offering bachelor’s course are now in shambles for lack of proper government supports, shortage of books in libraries, hygienic hostels and sanitary facilities for students.
Students who are mainly from low- and middle-income groups accused the government of discriminating between such colleges and higher educational institutions in terms of facilities for students.
Standards of education in most of such colleges are on the decline, professor emeritus Serajul Islam Choudhury told New Age.
‘Dhaka College can be a good example. Dhaka College has declined a lot,’ he said.
Serajul Islam and principals of some colleges said that dependence of students on private universities
would lessen if standards of education in such colleges could be improved.
There are about 240 colleges offering bachelor (honours) and master’s courses affiliated to the National University. Most of them are non-government colleges while a few are run by the government.
‘Many colleges have better infrastructure and more qualified teachers than some private universities. Teachers are recruited to such colleges are recruited through Public Service Commission examinations which is not the case with private universities,’ said SM Mokfur Hossain, the principal of the Government Bangla College at Mirpur in Dhaka.
Nurun Nabi Siddique, principal of Abu Dharr Ghifari College, said that despite better infrastructure and qualified teachers in such colleges, students prefer private universities mainly because of the session jam that plagues the academic activities under the National University.
He, however, said that the declining standards of education in such colleges was also a reason for students preferring private universities.
Former Jahangirnagar University vice-chancellor Mustahidur Rahman, who is also a member of the National University syndicate, said, ‘Discrimination certainly exits. Students of public and private
universities live like lords and National University students lag behind them.’
He said that 80 per cent of graduates received degrees from the National University and if this difference continued, the whole education system would suffer.
Only 134 teachers teach about 25,000 students at the Government Bangla College, set up in 1962 on 33 acres of land. The college has five buildings and 32 classrooms for 25,000 students.
Bangla College has a hostel having an accommodation for only 200 students. The college does not have any hostel for female students.
Students said that students of science could not have practical classes as the laboratory is not up to the mark and the library did not have the books they need.
‘This is why students of the National University lag behind than others in other universities. If we cannot do practical classes and cannot study reference books, how can we compete with them?’ Zahid Hossain, a student of the college, said.
‘If 80 per cent of the total students come to attend classes, I will not be able to take classes because of shortage of teachers and infrastructure problems,’ the college principal, SM Mokfur Hossain, told New Age adding that the college has two or three teachers for some subjects.
The Government Titumir College in Dhaka has only 180 teachers for some 45,000 students. There are only 60 classrooms. The college has a hostel with limited seats but no hostel for female students.
‘How is it possible for 180 teachers to teach 45,000 students?’ said Saiful Islam, a student of Titumir College.
Esmat Ara, a student of the college, said that about 90 to 100 students attend a class. ‘The total number of students for a class is higher than that but all students do not come to classes regularly,’ she said. She added that sometimes students did not get any place to sit in the classroom and they listened to teacher standing.
The Titumir College principal, Dilara Hafiz, said that teachers had to take classes in two shifts for shortage of teachers and classrooms.
In Abu Dharr Ghifari College, there are only 44 teachers for 2,200 students. The college has only 16 classrooms. The college has two tin-shed buildings and a four-storey building.
‘Some city schools have infrastructure better than such colleges have,’ said Mahfuzur Rahman, a bachelor’s student of the college.
The college principal, Nurun Nabi Siddique, said that non-government colleges received little support from the government for infrastructure development.
Abdur Rashid, president of the Bangladesh College University Teacher’s Association, said that the condition of colleges outside Dhaka was even worse.
‘Colleges in rural area are in a critical condition. Some of them have no teacher for some subjects,’ Nani Gopal Das, the principal of BM College in Barisal, told New Age.
According to him, BM College has only 150 teachers for some 22,000 students and classes were taken by guest teachers.
Some college teachers believe that a policy of the government is responsible for the teacher shortage in non-government colleges.
‘In non-government colleges, only two teachers for a single subject are on the monthly pay order, the portion of the salary the government gives to such colleges,’ Abdur Rashid said.
‘The quality of education is largely dependent on the quality of teachers. If we cannot ensure quality teachers, we will not be able to improve the quality of education in such colleges,’ Mustahidur said.
He said that there was a doubt about the quality of teachers of such non-government colleges, which account for about 80 per cent of the total number of colleges in the country.
The National University pro-vice-chancellor, Tofail Ahmed Chowdhury, said that the university was not the only authority to ensure the quality of education in such colleges and two or three authorities are involved in issues of the colleges.
‘We have nothing to do for teacher’s recruitment and fill the vacant positions. It is not possible to resolve the problems if only the National University wants,’ he said. ‘There should be combined efforts.’
‘As for supervising the universities, we may have some limitations but we are trying hard to solve the problems,’ he said.
Serajul Islam said that it was difficult for the National University to supervise a large number of colleges. He added that some colleges offering bachelor (honours) and master’s courses could be upgraded to fully-fledged universities.
‘In this case, there will be competition among the universities to improve their quality,’ he said.
-With New Age input
