& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Fine Arts Institute plagued with decade-long session jam

FAIZUL KHAN TANIM
Shiplu Mahmud, who enrolled at the Institute of Fine Arts under Dhaka University in 1999 for a bachelors programme, is going to appear for his third-year final exams this month, nearly six years into his admission to the institute.
"It may take a decade to complete my masters," said a frustrated Shiplu, one of the around 800 students studying at the institute which is plagued with session jam.
Students allege that the main reasons for such session jams are teachers' negligence, delay in publishing results, poor administration and scarcity of resources. But the teachers blame students' politics, hartal and other movements for this situation.
However, despite all these negative things, 11 batches are still studying with around 70 students in each batch of various departments.
"We have only three classrooms and two machine rooms that cannot accommodate all the students of 11 batches," a student of the Department of Print Making said.
"That is why the authorities cannot hold the classes of a department for more than three or four months a year. Then the classes are suspended usually for at least six months."
Most students alleged that the administration does not take any step to increase the number of classrooms or rearrange their classes.
Previously known as Govern-
ment College of Arts and Crafts, the institute came under the University of Dhaka in 1983 and was renamed as the Institute of Fine Arts. In 1992-93 session, honours degree programme was introduced there.
After the introduction of honours programme, the students of pre-BFA (pre bachelor of fine arts) degree needed to be merged with the new system.
As the students enjoy a long break due to shortage of classrooms, they take part time jobs in advertising and animation firms. At present around 300 students are involved in animation firms around the capital, the students said.
Another student alleged that he appeared for his third-year final exams last July but the results are still pending. Nobody knows when the results will come out.
Mustafa Abbas, an ex-student, said their BFA results of 1991 had come out one year after the exams. And it took long four years to complete their masters programme.
When asked, Institute Director Prof Abdus Satter admitted the scarcity of classrooms but said, "We are trying to lessen the session jam. We have asked the students to start the next year's class right after finishing their year-final exams.”
"But the students do not want to follow the instruction. If they ask for break instead of joining classes immediately after exams, session jam will continue," he said.
Prof Satter said the main reason for the session jam is that the old and new academic
programmes are running parallel. "It is not an easy task to run both the courses with such limited resources," he observed.
"We have planned some other actions to reduce session jam such as shortening the course curricula and taking the exams
and publishing results as quickly as possible. But at the same time students will have to stop staging frequent strikes and agitation," he said.
Debashis Pal, a lecturer of the Department of Ceramics, said hartals and political unrest are the
main reasons for session jam.
Moreover, the type of examinations of the institute is different from others. "For example, one exam is held with clay work. If a strike is called on the day of an exam, the clay moulds dry out and preparation for a fresh exam
takes a lot of time," he said.
Apart from facing the session jam, the students are bearing the brunt of highly expensive educational materials like paint, brush, easel and canvas.
A student of the Department of Painting needs at least five can-
vases which cost around Tk 5,000. Other painting materials cost them another Tk 2,000 just to appear for an examination. The university does not supply the materials at subsidised rate.
"The university authorities
should take notice of this," a student said mentioning that a Physics Department student of Dhaka University gets graph papers free of cost during exams and while preparing assignments.
The Fine Arts students are also facing accommodation problem. The lone dormitory for them, Shahnewaz Hall, has only 22 rooms.
A serious complaint came from the students that they do not have a properly equipped studio in the institute where they can do their assignments. "No-one can even think of a fine arts institute without a studio," said Ahmed Rana, a third-year student.
The students cannot avail themselves of library facility as their classes run till 2:00pm while the library remains open until 4:00pm. "It is quite impossible for us to go to the library after attending classes and having lunch," said a student.
It is also alleged that the library cards of the students are taken away by the authorities one month before their final exams. They cannot use library facilities during the one-month period which is crucial for their preparation.
The institute director, however, said the library system is common for all departments of Dhaka University. He admitted that the library is being run with inadequate manpower.
"Now we have only one librarian and we have advertised for recruiting another. Once that position is filled, the duration of library time will be extended," he said.