Student politics-to be or not to be in private universities

World famous Harvard University is a private university. The journey of private universities in Bangladesh might not be so long but some universities such as BRAC University, North South, IUB, Daffodils have already earned some reputation and if this trend continues, several of our private universities may acclaim global reputation within several years ahead.

These universities could dedicate their time, energy and attention towards academic and extra-curricular activities keeping themselves away from the so-called student politics that we notice how the academic and university life of the general students has vitiated in the pubic-universities. Thousands of students have become the victim of the ugly claws of student politics who have lost their freedom, prestige and honour.

They just have to digest all sorts of humiliation, psychological and mental torture of the student cadres and a vested interest group tries to introduce the same culture in the private universities where students have to receive education paying a handsome amount of money that stands quite opposite to public universities and it hardly satisfies any criterion of student politics.

The current scenario of student politics in public universities in no way talks of the welfare of higher education and pupils.  The other day while talking to a friend who happens to be a government official told me that his son studies at SUST but stays in a mess. He further added that staying in the hall is not possible as we used to do in our student life because of student politics that has robbed everything of the general and meritorious pupils.

They have to do everything as the student wing of the party in power desires. In this cruel situation only those who have received the benefits of this aimless student politics can support and advocate student politics to be introduced in the private universities. They don’t think that it will totally ruin the prospects of higher education in the country. This situation and proposal has undoubtedly made the guardians and conscious citizens worried as they don’t want to see the unruly demonstration, struggle, blood-shed, tendering, fighting, hooliganism and what not in the name of student politics.

Some university teachers have expressed their opinion that they don’t believe in the division of public and private universities.  I want to refute this claim. Since the birth of private universities in Bangladesh, they have witnessed clear division. Public university students have to pay a minimum amount of tuition fee, live in university dormitories and their teachers are paid by the state.

Quite opposite thing happens in private universities as the students of private universities don’t get any state subsidy from the state and have to pay higher amount of tuition fees. Their teachers are paid by them. The teachers who say not to develop any division between private and public universities seem difficult to understand what they actually want to mean. They just want to see the same student politics that has ruined the atmosphere of public universities.

The sacred university campuses have been stained with blood, fighting, corruption and serious unrest

The politics that public universities witness has killed the academic atmosphere of the sacred campuses by making them stringed with blood and evaporating students’ freedom and instilling the culture of fear, hatred, wielding arms and fighting among different factions of students and even among the intra-party groups. When all the public universities see this dark, quite dark picture of hooliganism banishing the study, culture, research and humanism, how some educationists advocate the politics to be introduced in private universities where students don’t find any state favour does not come to my sense.

Moreover, many foreign students study private universities who will not come here anymore if student politics is introduced. When public university VCs and the total university administration cannot enforce the laws and ideas for the betterment of university and general students due to so-called student politics, how can we propose to do the same in our non-government universities? We saw in the newspapers on 07 September that a student wing has formed private university student wing that has invited attention, praise and mostly criticism along with fear among many guardians and thinkers of education of the country.

If we caste our glance at international politics, national politics and local politics, we can easily see that the common people get from it loss, tension, and losing everything and inviting fear, hatred, harassment and death. At the cost of these phenomena, the opportunist politicians amass a colossal amount of money and wealth just to keep their supremacy that never talks about the welfare of people and country. We see Russia Ukraine battle, Israel-Philistine conflict, Pakistan-Kashmir-India conflict—all these bring untold misères to the common people making the opportunists benefitted. Similar thing happens in the national politics. Common people become the victim of everything. They have to bear the brunt of political turmoil.

Soaring price of commodities, insecurity at every step of state affairs, fear, threat, forced disappearance etc. have already vitiated the life of common people—all these originate from national politics. Common people have to pay hush money to get any service from the state owned institutions and organization and no government can do anything here. So, why the common people will adore such type of politics? Ample opportunities lie in private universities for the students to bloom their leadership quality. They get involved in various types of cultural and social activities and competitions. They have student representatives and monitors in running the university administration.  Many private universities have student clubs, seminars, symposium, workshop, games, cultural events and even some have joint programs with overseas universities to develop them into human resource and worthy citizens of the country. Now is the time to ensure all these phenomena in all the private universities without penetrating so-called student politics there.

Most private university’s every semester is occupied by academic calendar. One example can be cited here that three month’s semester contains 24 classes and the duration of each class is one hour thirty minutes. Within this academic calendar, quiz, assignment, midterm examinations, presentation, viva-voce, final examination surface. Moreover, each department of some renowned universities attempts to arrane one workshop each month. To develop leadership quality among the students’ different types of clubs have been established. All these busy schedules clearly tell us that student politics of the kind that reigns in public universities hardly get any scope to make its room in the private universities so far. However, a vested interest group is trying heart and soul to push it into private universities as these universities accommodate more students than those of public universities. When it will actually happen, it means the student politics of muscle power and the gun language prevail in universities. 

Most private universities’ rules and principles don’t allow student politics that is prevalent in public universities that the guardians and trustees fully endorse. The guardians don’t want their wards to embroil themselves in nasty student politics and enroll their name in the register of ‘cadre’, musclemen and mastans being in the sacred campus. If such attempt of some vested interest group really introduce student politics that will compel the affluent guardians to send their wards abroad for higher education and already enrolled students of neighbouring and other countries will go back either to their own countries or somewhere else that will deprive Bangladesh of getting some foreign currencies and reputation that the private universities have already acquired. Some private universities nurture some foreign teachers who try to keep the academic aspects of higher education up at the cost of their sacrifice, sincerity, dedication and experience and face value. All this will disappear with the emergence of politics in the campus. Today the private university students outnumber the public universities that are another cause of the opportunist politicians   to fatten their group at the cost of academic damage in the private universities that we don’t support in the greater interest of higher education and nation. 

Writer: An educationist who taught in Cantonment College, Cadet Colleges, Rajuk College and BOU and also worked as education specialist in BRAC Education. Email: masumbillah65@gmail.com