Biological sciences: The way ahead

During the middle of the last century, Watson and Crick made their epoch-making discovery of the structure of DNA, the repository of the mystery of life. This timeless finding gave a tremendous speed and momentum to the research of bio-sciences that solved many unknown riddles about life. Proceeding on those footsteps, by the end of the last decade of the last century, the entire sequence of the human DNA became know to man. The human genome project was successfully completed ahead of the expected time.

This resulted in the uncovering of key mysteries of life at an unimaginable speed and the influence was vividly visible in all branches of biology.

In the astronomical expanse of the universe, existence of life is, until today, found only in our minute earth. Scientists of biological sciences study the various aspects of life on this earth. Time has entrusted upon them with this huge responsibility.

The Faculty of Biological Sciences of Dhaka University has the opportunity to share this responsibility. But for that it shall have to have the needed capability to accept the challenge in becoming frontline leader in advanced ideas and practices in the field of education and research. This requires intricate planning.

The Faculty of Biological Sciences that started its journey in 1974 is very fortunate to be situated in the historic Curzon Hall campus which turned 100 years old in 2004. Names of some greatest scholars like Satyen Bose, Meghnad Shaha, P. Moheshwari, Mukarram Hossain, H.K. Yusufzai, M.O. Ghani, Mafizuddin Ahmed, Kamaluddin Ahmad, B. Karim, Anwarul Azim Chowdhury, and Mahmudul Amin are synonymous with the glorious advent of science at Dhaka University. These educator-researchers have devoted their entire teaching and research lives among the beautifully archetectured red brick buildings of the Curzon Hall.

Treading the path of their impetus, this campus also witnessed other scholars like S. Zahir Haidar, A.K.M. Nurul Islam, Muhtasham Hossain, Harunar Rashid, Hironmoy Sengupta and others. There was a time when Curzon Hall campus was mostly known by the Faculty of Science, but now the campus is predominantly the seat of different departments of Biological Science Faculty. The faculty has become entwined with the glorious past of Dhaka University. In near future we have plans to celebrate through a gala program the one hundred years of Curzon Hall, the icon of glory of the University of Dhaka. The Biological Science Faculty will also shine with the same intensity under the aegis of its brilliance.

Keeping in view of a bright future, as a Dean of the faculty, I have envisaged a work plan an outline of which is given below:

1. Make each department of the faculty a wealth of learned and skilled teachers and researchers.

a. The existing teachers will have to keep pace and enhance their knowledge at par with the rapid advances in the field of biological sciences.

b. New appointments of faculties and researchers will only be on the basis of merit following stringent scrutiny adhering to strict laws and regulations.

To achieve the target described in (a), the following steps must be taken:

• Reward the best teachers and researchers of each department.
• Introduce continued in-service training programs for teachers as per the syllabus and research demands.
• Create endowment fund for research work by the faculties especially the young teachers by collecting funds from government and non-government sources.
• Rejuvenate research programs in the departments by appointments of Ph.D. research students with the same salary of the lecturers. Initiate sandwich/joint/collaborative research programs with the reputed domestic institutions like ICDDR, B and also with the renowned overseas universities.
• Provide support to regular publications of high quality journals from the professional societies of different branches of bioscience. Assist teacher-researchers in publishing their research-papers in international journals.
• Expand exchange programs of teachers-researchers between our university and the advanced universities and research centres of the East and West. Introduce visiting programs by expatriate scholars with attractive benefit package.
• Engage teacher-researchers of various areas of the biosciences in an uninterrupted and long term program to translate the text books in Bangla in collaboration with Bangla Academy.
• Find alternative sources of earning for teacher-researchers, so that they can avoid spending time out of department interests.

2. Demand of the era is attracting the most brilliant of students to study in the Faculty of Biological Sciences. To ensure and impart the best education for them, the newly introduced grading system at the University of Dhaka has to be effectively applied. For this, it is imperative as an interim arrangement to revise syllabus, make changes in the teaching methodologies, change the nature of question papers, reduce the mark allocation of the final exams and distribute it among the yearlong in-course exams, impart an attitude of positive marking and take steps to meet deadlines of the academic calendar. Keeping in view the experience of the interim program mentioned above and considering the overall national situation, we have to introduce the semester system in place of the ongoing yearly sessions in the shortest possible time. We must make provisions to appropriately reward the bright and successful students for their outstanding results.

3. Physical facilities of all the departments of the Faculty of Biological Sciences should be improved. The buildings of the Curzon Hall campus are a grand sight, but through time these have withered. The century old buildings need facelift through restoration and refurbishing. This can be done by bringing it to the notice of UNESCO and declare it as 'World Heritage Site'. It is absolutely necessary to restore and protect the grandeur of Curzon Hall with the help from government and non-government coffers. Behind the main Curzon Hall building is the science workshop. In place of this grotesque-looking useless structure, a high-rise replica of Curzon Hall needs to be constructed. This will house a conference hall, a modern research laboratory for conducting frontier research in biosciences, a reference library with internet facility and a central cafeteria. Uninterrupted supply of electricity and water is a prime necessity in the Curzon Hall. Air-conditioned dust-free laboratories at each department are essential for conducting meaningful research. Keeping these in mind, adequate power supply and a central standby automatic-switching generator is to be installed. It is imperative to modernize the laboratories of the undergraduate programme and allocate adequate funds to conduct up-to-date practical courses.

As in other countries, the government of Bangladesh should consider the importance of research and education in biological sciences as a priority agenda. A special budgetary allocation should therefore be made by the government year to year as well as on a long-term basis to support the activities described above.

A university is a seat of free thinking. There may exist differences of opinions and philosophies among the teachers. But the primary responsibility of every faculty must be education and research. On this basis a congenial coexistence through mutual respect, cooperation, and human values should prevail and strive to build a community of superior culture.

At the same time, the members of the faculty will preserve their individual identity, integrity and honour. Our yearning should be for a faculty of high esteem devoid of demeaning religious fanaticism. Teachers and students alike must remain alert against a certain vested group who is always involved in spiteful activities. Communal groups are like poisonous distillates; one needs to come out of the meanness and endeavour to build a finer and higher academic culture. This culture will fuel our fires to make excellence in all branches of the biological science -- the science of the twenty first century. The Faculty of Biological Sciences will lead that expedition.

Professor M. Anwar Hossain is Dean of the Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Dhaka.