Directive withheld amid criticism

Only a day after issuing orders to all universities to enrol students on the basis of SSC and HSC results, the government yesterday backtracked on the directive in the face of severe criticisms from different quarters.

Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid confirmed the suspension but did not cite any reason.

All he told The Daily Star is that a decision on the admission process would be taken after "an extensive discussion" with the university authorities and other stakeholders.

The education ministry on Wednesday evening sent the directive to all public and private universities, asking them to enrol undergraduate students on the basis of their results in the Secondary School Certificate and the Higher Secondary Certificate examinations, instead of through the existing admission tests.

The decision was touted as a measure to cut down on the expenses and ease the hassles of the admission seekers.

It, however, drew flak from the stakeholders, including the university authorities, with negative comments pouring in on the social networking sites.

The vice chancellors of some public universities said they should have been consulted before taking the decision.

"Whatever decision is taken, it has to be done unanimously," said a VC, wishing anonymity.

Some officials of the ministry said the minister was not "properly briefed" when he signed the files in this regard.

"He [the minister] came to know about the matter after some media published the news. And he ordered to suspend the directive immediately," said a top official, requesting not to be named.

Soon after the matter came in the media, high officials of the ministry started passing the buck.

The ministry high-ups, including the minister and the secretary, knew about it all along and they are the ones who signed the directive and had it sent to the universities, said another ministry official.

"As the matter came in the media and drew widespread criticisms, they are now putting the blame on the others," he said.

An official of the ministry's university section said, "We were asked to circulate the order and we simply did that."

There has been a sharp division among the ministry and universities, especially the public ones, over the admission process for quite a long time. The government wants to remove the entry test system as it thinks the existing system puts a huge pressure on the admission seekers and their parents.

The students lose precious time and spend a large amount of money for university coaching and travelling to different areas for taking the tests.

On the other hand, the university authorities believe that it would not be possible to enrol deserving students without the test.

In 2010, the government decided in principle to introduce "cluster system" for public university admission, but could not implement it due to opposition from some of the universities.