Campus politics going bad

“Bad politics" has crept in the public universities and some teachers are involved with such politics, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said yesterday.
“It used to be called student-teachers' movement in the past. But now it is called students or teachers' politics. In the meantime, bad politics has entered the public universities," the minister observed.
In the past, teachers and students used to stage demonstrations for the cause of the nation or to press home any demand, he told at a seminar titled "Teachers' politics in Bangladesh: Achievements, Crisis and Possibilities in Higher Education."
Dhaka University Journalists' Association (DUJA) organised the seminar at Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban at Dhaka University.
Other speakers also strongly criticised the current trend of the teachers' politics, which, they said, was damaging the image of the public universities. They noted that teachers should not get involved with politics of any particular political party to protect party interest.
Pointing out that DU's position on the list of global top universities has dropped, Nahid called on the teachers: “Bring a proposal on how to improve the quality of higher education and we will take steps accordingly."
The minister asked the public university teachers to keep in mind that they were accountable to the people as the universities were run by tax payers' money. “If you remember to be accountable even to a beggar, then you will be able to give the nation much more.”
Prof Syed Anwar Hossain in his keynote speech said, "The blue-white political identity of teachers damages their academic excellence.”
He also questioned the "quality" and "merit" of the teachers recruited recently.
Prof Anwar said no elections took place for the vice-chancellor panel for four years while elections to students' union were last held more than two decades ago. These are examples of "undemocratic" attitude of the university authorities.
Eminent educationist Abul Kashem Fazlul Haque said, “Every government makes unwritten laws to run public universities. Such interference is undermining the universities' autonomy.”
DU Vice Chancellor Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique, DU Teachers' Association President Prof Farid Uddin Ahmed and columnist Syed Abul Moksud also spoke on the occasion.
DUJA website www.duja.bd.org was inaugurated along with a magazine Prostab at the seminar.