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NU short on teachers, classrooms

AKBAR HOSSAIN
The National University (NU) was established in 1992 with the objective to smoothly run and monitor government colleges across the country, but students of these colleges are reeling from an acute shortage of teachers and classrooms, which is seriously hampering their academic activities.
Consequently, many students are being forced to sit for exams without sufficient preparation, but NU authorities seem reluctant to properly address the issue.
"The mere 85 to 90 classes we get in an academic year are too meager to finish the curriculum
within the stipulated time," said Nazim Uddin, an honours student at Dhaka College.
"Moreover, our classrooms are frequently requisitioned for examinations under the NU as most colleges don't have separate classrooms to conduct such exams," he added.
Apart from the 52 weekly holidays in a year, classes remain suspended for up to an additional 85 days due to government holidays and various examinations including honours finals and Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and degree (pass) exams.
A teacher of Dhaka College said: "We must follow a very tight sched-
ule to finish the curricula as there are only 10 classrooms for 1200 students. So you can imagine the kind of pressure we are subjected to when classrooms have to be set aside for all sorts of exams," he said asking not to be named.
Teachers and students at other colleges are also facing the same kind of problem. "We have to conduct examinations under the NU as well as HSC, degree (pass), honours, masters and various professional exams," said a teacher of Government Titumir College, also on condition of anonymity.
Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and
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Statistics (Banbeis) recently reported nearly 3.5 lakh students are registered at some 240 government colleges for degree (pass), honours and masters courses under the NU and taught by about 8,500 teachers.
Talking to The Daily Star, a former vice-chancellor of the NU, pointed out teacher shortage as the other nagging problem.
"Acute teacher shortage in government colleges under the NU is seriously hampering classes. At the district level, the problem has taken a more serious turn," a former NU vice-chancellor told The Daily Star requesting anonymity.
"The number of teacher positions in government colleges is much smaller than the minimum requirement. Without recruiting sufficient number of teachers, it is virtually impossible to complete the curriculum within the stipulated time," he observed.
"Teachers in government colleges are appointed through Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) examinations, so the government should immediately hold special BCS exams to fill the vacuum," he added.
Regarding classroom crisis, the former vice-chancellor said: "Until separate halls for exams are built at colleges in the district headquarters, students will continue to suffer."
Despite repeated attempts over telephone, NU Vice-Chancellor Dr. Aftab Ahmed could not be reached for comment. Also, a letter faxed to the vice-chancellor's office to the same effect went unanswered.