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Let's start our journey

21 December 2004, 18:00 PM
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
By Mohammad Harunur Rashid Meer, PhD student Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore
21 December 2004, 18:00 PM
. PHOTO: AFP
No one knows where the end is, from where we should start. Yes, I am talking about the editorial 'Educational institution under lock and key' published in the daily star on 15 Dec. 2004. It was 1989, I was a student of Madrasha-i- Aliah, Dhaka, my institute was closed. The reason was same as Chittagong Medical College, the only difference was that the Chhatra Dal called the strike to stop the student union election while Chhatra Shibir was opposing them. Even though I am talking about an incident in 1989, still we can see the same in 2004. So many years have passed, why we can't expect a better institutional environment in the 21st century?

It is not only a matter of shame but also sorrow and pity when we see the news, boldly written 'hall vacant or strike of X or Y institution' quite frequently on top of our newspapers. I am a PhD student, studying in Singapore. As a student I have got the chance to meet and mingle with foreign students from countries from all over the world. Most of the time, I found an inconsistency between my age and level of study when I compared myself with them. Why? I lost time in the university due to aimless student politics in my institute. So many times our educational institutes are obstructed by different kinds of unwanted activities. In a foreign institute, a student knows his or her graduation date on orientation day. It is not only mind boggling but also unbelievable to my foreign friends that we lose a long span of time before entering university after higher secondary. A university does not have a fixed schedule for examination each year and an educational institute can have holidays that were not scheduled at the beginning of the academic year.

During my masters course in Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand, I was elected general secretary of the students union. I should mention here, it would not have been easy for me to be elected to that position unless all Bangladeshi fellows supported me during election. The students union of AIT was just a union like any students body in Bangladesh. But the difference is that we dealt with academic matters only , not politics.

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Why our students unions cannot do so in our country? After all , students should be concerned with their studies only .