The New Nation - Internet Edition

Dr. Rafiqur Rahman

We have done it again and one can be certain that this will not be the last unless something is done to bring fundamental amendments to the 1973 Dhaka University Order, which brought the colour (blue, white, pink etc.) politics that are practiced by many distinguished colleagues in the Public Universities of the country today. We behaved utterly irresponsibly in the wake of last August's unfortunate incident at the Dhaka University playground. The authority apologised and agreed to take out the army outpost from the University arena, which tantamounts to near capitulation on the part of the Care-taker Government. The students gladly accepted the apologies of the Government and rejoiced. The civil society heaved a sigh of relief, because they thought rightly that a major disaster had been averted. Wait a minute, apologies, expression of sorrow, etc. might have been enough for everybody, however, it was not enough for a section of the teachers of the University. The consequences did not help anybody, the teachers, the students and the country.

The students have lost over two months of class and examination schedules. Are we going to make any extra effort such as cancellation of our Summer vacation, taking examinations on Fridays, etc. to make up this tremendous loss? Of course not. Everything is guaranteed: our salary, festival bonus, and other benefits no matter how many lost class hours, scheduled examinations and consequent session jam there is .I am sure many of us feel very bad and sad about this massive session jam. But what have we been able to do about this jam in the last twenty five years. Not a great deal. All our vacations have always been intact. Sometimes for spurious reasons we get some bonus vacations. But never the other way round, that is we have never cancelled our vacations, to take classes and examinations lost for reasons, which were sometimes beyond our control. At this very moment I would have felt a lot better if I could have recalled a single example in the last twenty years to say that yes, we have worked during the chartered vacation to make up for lost time. But sad to say that I cannot recall that kind of happy and joyful occasion. I have no doubt in my mind that this has happened because we are not accountable. Everybody is 'scared' of us, the students, the guardians., the Governments, otherwise how is it possible to get such a free ride. Nobody dares to put us to task. It is fair to say that nobody will in the near future..

The Parliament has enacted the 1973 Order, it is the appropriate body to bring any meaningful amendments to the Order. Unfortunately it has not acted so far, and it is hard to believe that it will. The current Caretaker Government has done a great deal in many important areas of administration, which includes both autonomous and semiautonomous bodies. It has already taken significant steps in the matters of Private and some Public Universities. I am pleased to note here that it is my belief the CG wants to bring changes in the matters of the remaining Public Universities as well. It has to find the appropriate time and the appropriate modus operandi to bring amendments to the 1973 order that are very much required to save the Public Universities. For such fundamental changes opinions both within and outside the Public Universities are overwhelming. More than a decade ago the Dhaka University Teachers Association voted to bring amendments to the historic Order. Subsequently the Association asked and got written suggestions from the Teaching Community on the nature and the type of amendments to the historic Order. This was in 1994. The suggestions that were received were nicely compiled by the then DUTA General Secretary. Unfortunately, the vested interests did not want to proceed further with regard to amendments and put those suggestions in the pandora's box. The gist of those suggestions put forward by the Teaching Community was to do away with the many elections that are practiced at the present time, rather the Community would prefer selections through search or any other appropriate Committees/Bodies. The elections have polarised the teaching community and has brought irrepairable damage to the academic atmosphere of the University. A significant segment of the teaching community is much too politicised. The result is a disastrous deterioration in all aspects of the University. One of the fall-outs of this deterioration is the session jam.

The terrorist attack on the life of Prof. Humayun Azad was tragic, sad and unfortunate. However, making an issue out of that and go on strike by DUTA was not at all acceptable. It was purely a political move to harass, embarrass and destabilise the BNP led Government by the then Awami League leaning DUTA leadership. I would say that not more than a dozen teachers of either the Blue Party or the White Party do actively promote such immoral and unethical political activity which has brought a great deal of shame and dishonour to the great and famed University we serve or have served. On this tragic and unfortunate incident the academic activities were shunned for very vital twenty three days to the severe detriment of the students. During those twenty three days the students underwent a period of incredible frustration and helplessness. What could they say and to whom? Who to complain to if the teachers do not think for the good of the students. The guardians were also helpless and prayed to Almighty Allah so that He brings sanity and good sense to the teachers of the premier University of the country.

I asked then and I am asking again now to my distinguished colleagues, what did you achieve by your abstinence from your academic activities for as long as twenty three days other than causing a great deal of harm to the students and to their parents? Isn't it morally repugnant and repulsive for University teachers to refrain from due academic activities and draw full salary and other benefits? The whole country looks upon us to provide moral and intellectual leadership to the country. Do we think, pause, for a moment and ask ourselves, is this the leadership we should provide? One cannot be a teacher and a politician at the same time. Politics is for politicians, not for us. Of course, we can have views on a variety of social and political issues. Let us air them in the newspapers, periodicals, etc. To the best of my knowledge no where in our region and beyond, University teachers get involved in politics as some of us do in the Public Universities of our country.

Do the students approve and admire our engagement in politics? They certainly do not. It is important, very important, that they look up to the activities we engage ourselves in. Because, we are not only their class room teachers, we are also their moral and intellectual guides. It is very important how they perceive us. If we expect the students to follow our instructions, guidance, etc. which we do, it is important the kind of perceptions the students hold about us, as individuals. Are we someone they can trust, follow and admire? Are we men and women of courage, character and commitment?

It is my considered judgement that the unfortunate incident at Shamsunnahar Hall would not have occurred if the teaching community would not have been as polarised as they were. The then Vice-Chancellor and the Provost of the Shamsunnahar Hall belonged to the two different colour political parties of the University and what was worse that they had allegiance to the two highly polarised political parties of the country. The Vice-Chancellor had allegiance to BNP and the Provost was a staunch supporter of Awami League. There were rumours that there were conflicts rather than cooperation between the Hall administration and the University administration. Was it just a plain lapse on the part of the Provost to leave the Hall at the very moment when it was most essential on her part to stay within the premise of the Hall and stop the entry of police force inside the Hall and prevent assault of the students? That is hard to imagine. It was lack of communication and cooperation between the Provost and the Vice-Chancellor that precipitated the disaster which was unprecedented in the history of the University. The University had to be shut down. The Vice-Chancellor, who was at all not skillful in his actions and speeches was fired. A significant segment of my respected colleagues might have rejoiced at the untimely and the manner in which the Vice-Chancellor had to depart. Yes, there might have been some jubilant moments, but at what price? At a terrible price to the students.

The subsequent suspension of the academic activities of the University for more than two months brought a great deal of damage to the students. The question that comes naturally, are we as teachers sensitive to the damage that was done to the students? That was a significant setback for the students in this extremely competitive world. We might have been sensitive, however, not sufficiently enough since we did not do anything about it. We did not take any extra class nor did we hold examinations, let us say, on university holidays to make up for the lost class , for the lost examinations. If the teaching community which is at the heart of almost everything that the great Institution stands for, remains insensitive, inactive towards the loss of due lectures and other academic and extra-academic activities of the students, there is absolutely no way that this University which once used to be a great Institution can rise again. As many of you may have already surmised, once the pride of the Subcontinent, the great Institution, that is, the University of Dhaka is sinking and has been doing so for a considerable period of time. The 1973 Order is largely responsible for this sad decline.

Well, can we save the great Institution? This reminds me of a memorable saying by an American marine in the Vietnam war. When challenged by a fellow marine in the midst of fierce fighting in a South Vietnamese village whether they would be able to save the village, the young marine blurted out that historic saying " Yes, we can save the village, but we have to destroy it to save it".