The Second Chance

Professor Dr AAMS, Arefin Siddique, Vice Chancellor of Dhaka University, thinks that allowing the second timers in the admission test creates an unequal competition for fresh HSC graduates. Photo: Prabir Das

Reaching 18 brings a new kind of thrill to everyone regardless of one's country and culture. It means being free to explore life and take exciting challenges. In fact, for a Bangladeshi youngster it is the time to take one of the most crucial adventures of his/her life. After completing higher secondary school certificate examination (HSC), these young people take part in the university admission test. Hundreds and thousands of students sit for the admission test to get admitted to reputed universities like Dhaka University, Jagannath University etc. But with a handful of seats and a huge number of competitors these admission tests are like climbing the highest peaks of the world.

In contrast to this picture, when the classes of these battle-hardened freshers start, we see a gloomy look in many of their faces. And a few months after the inception, on an average nine or ten seats remain vacant even in many departments of the DU. The reason is that many students leave their departments thinking it does not match their dream career and go for taking a second chance to sit for the admission test again.

Shehrin Islam, a student of the Institute of Social Welfare of DU says, “In the first year of my university I saw three of my friends leave the department thinking it beneath themselves to study in such a department. It was a bit depressing for me. I was also thinking whether I should continue or not. Later I continued and I think I was right.”
Actually these vacant seats result in a huge waste of university resources. On top of it, after a yearlong preparation, these second timers sit for the admission test again along with the students who get a few weeks for the preparation. The result of this unequal competition is very clear. This year around 50% of DU students are second timers.

Only fresh HSC graduates will be able to sit for the admission tests in Dhaka University and Jagannath University.

Under these circumstances two most prominent universities--Dhaka University and Jagannath University-- have come up with a significant decision. From the next academic year, these universities, like many other engineering universities, will only allow fresh HSC graduates to sit for the admission test. On October14, after this declaration from the general admission committee of Dhaka University, many students who didn't qualify this year have taken to the street and protested the decision.

Professor Dr AAMS Arefin Siddique, Vice Chancellor of Dhaka University comments about the decision: “This year 3,01,800 students have applied for only 6700 seats in the undergraduate level. Many of the students who sit for the second time in the admission test have already got admitted in various universities and even in many departments of the DU. They enjoy all infrastructural facilities of the university and take a narrow focused yearlong preparation for the admission test in various coaching centres. On the other hand, the fresh HSC graduates get a few months time and rely mostly on their preparation on HSC curriculum. So ultimately the fresh HSC graduates have been facing discrimination in the admission test. We came up with this decision mainly to avoid such discrimination. Not only that, wasting one year only to study in a particular institution doesn't make much sense. Good result from any department or any institution can ensure a bright future.”

In the recent admission tests we have seen students' dependence on coaching centres. Many coaching centres have allegedly been involved in malpractices during the admission test. University authorities think that this decision will also reduce such criminal activities as they have found most of the students found guilty of unfair means are the second timers and they are influenced by the coaching centres to do so.

As a protest to this decision, students have gathered at the Shaheed Minar and submitted a memorandum to the President. They have been going on with a hunger strike for four days but no step from the government has been taken to convince these students with any remedial steps. A proctorial body from DU has requested repeatedly the protesting students to leave the spot but they didn't agree. Abrar Suman a protesting student says, “My dream was to study in DU. I have got admission in Sher E Bangla Agricultural University but I want to study in DU.”

Like Abrar most of the students in Bangladesh think that universities like Dhaka University and Jagannath University are the only institutions where they can get quality education. Besides many other universities there are hundreds of colleges under the National University which can be a great source of skilled manpower. But it is very unfortunate that session jam and poor teaching-learning quality of these colleges create a huge rush on the universities which ultimately harms the academic environment of these institutions.

It is rather unfortunate that in the very first years of their lives, these youths are thinking that their future is uncertain only because they did not get admission to a particular university. Making a compromise with the academic environment is absurd. However it is our responsibility to restore the confidence of the country's youths and ensure them a successful future.

The writer can be contacted at [email protected]