<i>DU rolling back session jam</i>
Session jams that ate away valuable years from the lives of the students of Dhaka University since the eighties, are now all set to become history as all of its departments and institutes have succeeded in drastically slashing the backlog.
This has been possible largely due to a peaceful environment at the university, backed by introduction of the semester system at honours and masters levels, regular holding of classes and examinations.
Frequent strikes and closures of the university in the politically turbulent eighties had compelled students to qualify three to four years degrees in eight to nine years.
Of the 67 departments of the university, there is no session jam in 19 departments under two faculties--social sciences and business studies--at both honours and masters levels.
All the nine institutes of the university are also enjoying zero session jam, said the directors of the institutes.
The duration of session jam at 30 other departments under five faculties--arts, pharmacy, earth and environmental sciences, engineering and technology and science--has come down to around six months, said sources at the faculties.
There is no session jam at 17 departments of two other faculties--fine arts and biological sciences--at the honours level, but there is around six to ten months jam at masters degree level, said faculties sources.
The faculty of law has succeeded in cutting its session jam from 18 months to around six months.
DU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr AAMS Arefin Siddique told The Daily Star that keeping the academic programmes "unhurt" was the main reason behind of the lessening session jam.
"In the last three years, classes at Dhaka University were not suspended for a single hour and students and teachers attended their examinations and classes so regularly that even on the days of hartal an academic activities ran in full swing," the DU VC added.
He said the lessening of session jams has been possible as all the teachers, officials and the students helped the authorities to accomplish the job.
"If we are able to continue the current flow of academic programmes for six months ahead, the session jam will reach an end," he hoped.
Faculty deans said the process of a reduction of semester jams began three to four years ago.
Students and teachers told this correspondent that only a few classes were suspended in the last few years due to a reduction of campus violence and political clashes.
They also said the semester system kept both students and teachers busy with their assignments, term papers and examinations along with attending classes regularly, all of which resulted in slicing away the session gap.
Prof Dr Mohammad Rafiqul Islam, chairman of the department of Banking, said there is no session jam in his department.
"Attending classes and taking exams on time by teachers are two of the vital reasons for the lessening of the semester gap," observes Mainul Hossain, a third-year student of the department of International Relations.
Prof Dr Shah Mohammad Ullah, chairman of the department of Soil, Water and Environment, said there is no session jam under the faculty of science at the honours level but its masters level thesis students have to face a little session jam.
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