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Crisis in Education
The closure of Rajshahl Untversity on Friday — the fourth out of the country's seven universities to be affected by factional violence in recent months — after some 200 were left injured in three days of running battles, comes as another depressing sign of the deepening crisis tn the education sector. The police meanwhile, as has unfortunately become customary these days, occupied the gall ery seats, leaving educational institutions and ordinary students of the city ruing their misfortunes.
Rajshahi is the latest, and we shall not fool ourselves into thinking it is the last. According to one count, at least 62 higher secondary and degree colleges have also either closed or are in the grip of rising tension and uncertainty. And the violence continues to gather momentum. One group is causing the problem in Chittagong, another sparking it off tn Rajshahi. while a third Is held responsible for the paralysis at Dhaka. It is the same picture everywhere else. Different groups with different motives and grievances. Opposition parties are involved, but so are student groups affiliated to the ruling party
But there is a common factor. Throughout the education sector, a free-for-all environment seems to have been created by. on the one hand, the inability or unwillingness of law enforcement agencies to check the rising wave of violence on or even outside campuses (note Rajshahi). and on the other, a total absence of initiative on the part of the education ministry to put its own house In order. The tragedy is that the two ministries most directly concerned with the situation, home affairs and education, are headed not by political non-entltles. but by Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and deputy leader of the Jatiya Sangsad Dr Badruddoza Chowdhury respectively. The question naturally arises, why is it proving so difficult for the country's two top political office-holders to tackle an essentially political situation? Should we assume that they are not terribly bothered about the situation? Or do we take It that they are simply unable to cope with the problem?
Barely five months Into the life of a new government. we earnestly hope none of the above is actually the case. But the situation has already reached a crisis point and we are yet to see any meaningful initiative, which has to come from the government because, in the first instance, it Is their Job to administer the country. (Recent events have exposed the July 12 grand conference of political parties to have been more of a failure than the success it was claimed to be at the time).
At the moment, we 'see the education minister on television virtually every evening, chief guesting at this or that function. But we do not see him discussing the campus situation with university vice-chancellors or college principals. Dr Chowdhury is a man of considerable ability, energy and Intellect, but his current style of ministership cannot, and does not. cause public confidence in him to grow.
We do not expect the government to declare war on the campuses, nor is it desirable. Since violence-mongers largely operate inside campuses. any heavy-handed police action could lead to injuries to. or even deaths of. innocent students. But what we do expect is a firm directive and follow-ups from the home ministry to the police to contain the violence. Simultaneously, the education minister should initiate a process of direct dialogue with university and college authorities on the one hand, and all student groups on the other. In order to find a mutually agreed solution. In the meantime, the major political parties should stop inflaming the situation with press statements accusing one another — but never themselves — for the violence.