RU admission seekers' plight

The admission tests for the honours programme of Rajshahi University (RU) under 2018-19 session begins today, and like every year, aspirants are facing serious accommodation crisis.

For those who have no relatives or acquaintances in the city or its surrounding areas, the sufferings have escalated as most residential hotels, rest houses and private dormitories are already booked.

Around 88,543 admission seekers and their guardians have already started swarming the city for the two-day tests.

Many RU students are helping out as much as they can in this regard.

Robiul Alam, who lives in the city's Binodpur area, said, “Three of us [RU students] share a room, still we have taken in seven admission seekers.”

Even the university dormitories are packed to the brim. The 17 halls, 11 for male and six for female students, with a capacity of 8,000 students, are accommodating more than double the capacity.

Rana Talukdar, an aspirant, staying at a hall, said, “Eight of us are crammed into the room.”

Finding no other alternatives, many are also staying at mosques on the campus.

Many aspirants alleged that owners of private dormitories are charging them extra. Meanwhile, two admission seekers were reportedly robbed off their valuables around 1:00am on Saturday night.

RU Proctor Prof Lutfor Rahman said, “We have instructed the hall authorities to remain empathetic to the admission seekers and accommodate them as much as possible.”

“We have also requested law enforcers to take actions against private dormitories charging students extra.” He said they were also implementing tight security measures in and around the campus during the tests.