Closure of evening courses in public varsities a positive step

EVER SINCE PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES INTRODUCED EVENING COURSES, MANY OBSERVERS HAVE BEEN SCEPTICAL ABOUT THEIR QUALITY

It is a welcome piece of news that University Grants Commission (UGC) announced yesterday the closure of evening courses at all public universities responding promptly to President Abdul Hamid’s strong reaction against this trend while speaking at the 52nd Convocation of Dhaka University on Monday. It is sad that our universities are losing their long-held character of being places of knowledge and education only. They are increasingly turning into places of business be they private or public.

In Bangladesh the need of establishing universities through private enterprises arose as public universities failed to accommodate students. The government did not have enough money to establish universities for a great number of students who failed to find a seat in a public university. Ever since public universities introduced evening courses, many observers have been sceptical about their quality. University teachers, students, educationists and even employers or recruiting agencies have time and again raised eyebrows at the standard of these degrees and quality of their holders.

We are not against commercialisation in the education sector. It is a global trend.  But commercialisation and profiteering are not the same. The ever-increasing demand of higher education in the country has made authorities of certain private universities turn their institutions to places of crass profiteering. This trend of making hefty profit out of this demand had their influence on the public universities also.  President Abdul Hamid rightly observed that there is a section of teachers in public universities who have for money turned public universities into business institutions disrupting its overall academic environment. These universities have opened many departments, evening courses, diploma courses and institutes, and this trend is hampering the main aim for which these universities were established in the first place.

The president very pertinently said that many public universities change its look into private ones at night and the campus becomes ‘a fair in the evening.’ We agree with the president when he said that this was not acceptable.

The money-making and profiteering attitude of the authorities of some private universities and many teachers at public universities has made a mockery of the concept of education. This must change. It is reprehensible that education here is going to the hands of people who fail to understand that the very word ‘education’ is not just limited to imparting lessons or instructions to students. Now is the time of end this unethical business attitude from education. The UGC’s announcement of closing evening courses at all public universities is a step in that direction.  

 

 

Closure of evening courses in public varsities a positive step

EVER SINCE PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES INTRODUCED EVENING COURSES, MANY OBSERVERS HAVE BEEN SCEPTICAL ABOUT THEIR QUALITY

It is a welcome piece of news that University Grants Commission (UGC) announced yesterday the closure of evening courses at all public universities responding promptly to President Abdul Hamids strong reaction against this trend while speaking at the 52nd Convocation of Dhaka University on Monday. It is sad that our universities are losing their long-held character of being places of knowledge and education only. They are increasingly turning into places of business be they private or public. In Bangladesh the need of establishing universities through private enterprises arose as public universities failed to accommodate students. The government did not have enough money to establish universities for a great number of students who failed to find a seat in a public university. Ever since public universities introduced evening courses, many observers have been sceptical about their quality. University teachers, students, educationists and even employers or recruiting agencies have time and again raised eyebrows at the standard of these degrees and quality of their holders. We are not against commercialisation in the education sector. It is a global trend. But commercialisation and profiteering are not the same. The ever-increasing demand of higher education in the country has made authorities of certain private universities turn their institutions to places of crass profiteering. This trend of making hefty profit out of this demand had their influence on the public universities also. President Abdul Hamid rightly observed that there is a section of teachers in public universities who have for money turned public universities into business institutions disrupting its overall academic environment. These universities have opened many departments, evening courses, diploma courses and institutes, and this trend is hampering the main aim for which these universities were established in the first place. The president very pertinently said that many public universities change its look into private ones at night and the campus becomes a fair in the evening. We agree with the president when he said that this was not acceptable. The money-making and profiteering attitude of the authorities of some private universities and many teachers at public universities has made a mockery of the concept of education. This must change. It is reprehensible that education here is going to the hands of people who fail to understand that the very word education is not just limited to imparting lessons or instructions to students. Now is the time of end this unethical business attitude from education. The UGCs announcement of closing evening courses at all public universities is a step in that direction.