On
Campus
Thoughts
on Student Politics
The
people of Bangladesh are widely misled by the term "student
politics". I was involved in politics during my student
life in a foreign university. Now, I personally believe the
term student politics is misunderstood here.
We have
to understand that when we use a term such as student politics,
the body to benefit maximum from its decision and policies
should be students. Unfortunately, it isn't really that way
in Bangladesh. In fact, students are the worst sufferers in
this war of power. There is only one reason for this: the
financial benefit these so called student leaders are receiving
for actually promoting the mission and vision of external
national political leaders.
The reason
why I came down to finances is because, at my University,
I prepared the yearly student union budget of over 500,000
dollars. Now, every student of the University paid this money
that I was asked to allocate for the year and thereby I was
answerable to the University Senate body.
If I didn't
utilise the funds to the best interest of the student body,
my committee could be dissolved with a no-confidence vote
and I would have been brought to legal justice headed by the
University Senate and Board of Governors.
Now let's
compare this with Bangladesh. The so-called student leaders
here hardly receive any fund from the university to run their
party expenses. In fact, 99 percent of their expenditures
are paid for by national political figures and thus they are
answerable to those national warlords and not the students.
Therefore, I can conclude that the student wings of politics
are mere helpless idols of national politics with a student
banner.
Leaving
aside the fund issue, while I was abroad and into University
politics, I was accountable to student transparency bodies.
I had to report budgets of expenditure and it had to be signed
by the Senate and Board of Governors. I had to lay out plans
and implementation sheets of my party.
All these
activities sound alien to the student community in Bangladesh.
The truth is it really isn't. Your leaders are doing it here
too -- the difference is, the auditors are not the students
but the political leaders who are the patrons of these leaders.
I would
like to end by saying that student politics at my university
was a worthwhile experience to learn what the constitution
is all about and what activities and leadership qualities
would be required to lead a nation. Out there it was like
a proto-type of real national politics but any involvement
with national politicians would have us sacked in no time.
On the
contrary, in our country student politics 'IS' the national
politics, it isn't a replica as it is in other countries of
the world. This is a tragic story to those students who sincerely
want a body that could lead and frame policies for their betterment.
Instead, they are joining rallies and singing songs for some
leaders who hardly have the interest of students in mind but
instead chant slogans of questionable national concerns, which
hardly have anything to do with the student community.
Rubnoid
Readers are invited to send in write-ups along with pictures
for the On Campus column.
Men in
Different Guises
I am a
third year student of Dhaka University. A few days ago, while
I was chatting with a group of friends in front of our department,
a man of about 25 came up to us asking for money. He said
he needed it for his sister's wedding. He added that he was
from Rajshahi and worked at BUET canteen. One of my friends
got irritated and said, "If you work at BUET canteen,
why don't you ask the BUET students for money?" I remembered
seeing the man asking for money for his sister's wedding two
months before. But another of my friends got really angry
at the man. When I asked my friend why he was so angry, he
said it was because he knew the guy was a drug addict. It
occurred to me then that there are so many people in our society
involved in different professions and in various guises.
Moazzem
Hossain Department of English, University of Dhaka
University
Day at RUET
The first
anniversary of Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology
(RUET) was observed on September 1. A number of programmes
were arranged by the "University Day Ujjapon Committee"
along with other organisations. A University Day Programming
Contest was organised by the Computer Science and Electronics
(CSE) Department and the Central Computer Centre. A friendly
football match was played between teachers and 4th year students
of the university. A blood donation programme was held in
collaboration with Shondhani. The next day, a large and colourful
rally was taken around the city. The celebration programme
ended with a cultural evening and band show at RUET auditorium.
Shameem
Mahbub, RUET
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(R) thedailystar.net 2004
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