Nagorik Oikya convener Mahmudur Rahman Manna on Monday bemoaned that even a university VC these days does not have the guts to step down without the government permission due to the degradation of values in the education sector.
“He (SUST VC) said he can resign if the government asks him to do so…no university vice-chancellor has the guts to resign without the government permission as they’ve become so much obedient slaves,” he said.
Speaking at a discussion, Manna said the students of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) have been on a movement demanding the resignation of VC Fariduddin Ahmed, but he is unwilling to do so. “If the university students keep him standing under the sun for 24 hours because of his misconduct and corruption, he’ll say he won’t quit. He has become such a slave (of govt).”
Shaheed Asad Parishad arranged the programme at the Jatiya Press Club, marking Shaheed Asad Day, commemorating the supreme sacrifice of student leader Asaduzzaman Asad during the mass upsurge of 1969 that led to Bangladesh’s independence.
On January 13, the students of Begum Sirajunnesa Chowdhury Hall of SUST launched a protest after Provost Zafrin Ahmed Liza reportedly misbehaved with a student.
As police attacked the demonstrating students and used truncheons, rubber bullets and sound grenades on the SUST campus on the fourth day of the movement, the students started demanding the VC’s resignation.
Criticising the government over the degradation of the country’s education system, Manna said people having third-class degrees are becoming teachers of different universities. Think where has the education sector been delegated?”
He alleged that the government has destroyed the country’s all sectors, including the administration, by appointing unqualified and inefficient people, ignoring the talented ones.
He said people have become fed up with the ‘misrule’ of the current regime. “So, people become happy when the US imposes sanctions…people know it’s a bad government.”
Source: United News of Bangladesh