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Dhaka University, once dubbed the 'Oxford of the East' for its outstanding contribution in quality education through peaceful academic pursuits, has almost lost its tradition on account of unhealthy student and teachers' politics.
For this reason, most of the departments of the university are heaving under the pressure of more than half or one-year-long session jams.
DU politics has brought a great deal of welfare for the whole nation. But the trend of such healthy politics is not continuing now, sources alleged.
At present, the situation has changed. Its politics is no more a blessing for the nation. Rather, it is now one of the main causes of gradual downfall of the standard of education in the university, they said.
A section of teachers and students are involved in unhealthy politics on the campus. The victims of such unsound politics are the non-political teachers and students of the university.
While the general students suffer from unofficial closures that often lead to chronic session jams, the non-political teachers often end up at the receiving end of such a vindictive political culture.
Reacting on the situation, DU Vice Chancellor (VC) SMA Faiz said, "We feel saddened when we see that a teacher of a country's highest educational institute prefers politics to education."
Work stoppage is very common among the teachers of the university. Because of such work stoppage programmes, the university suffered huge economic losses and session jams.
The DU Teachers' Association (DUTA) observed work stoppage from February 28 to March 20, 2004 in protest against the 'atrocious' attack on noted academic and writer Humayun Azad on February 26 of the same year by unidentified miscreants.
Surprisingly enough, the teachers only stopped their academic duties but not their off-campus consultancies. They were more into part-time consultancy jobs during their work abstention period, said a teacher requesting annonimity.
However, the conscious section of the society think that the language of protest like work stoppage is quite 'indecent' for university teachers, as it seriously affects academic pursuits.
Student politics on the campus, it seems, is simply following a more polluted path. Unhealthy student politics is pushing the students into an uncertain future day after day.
Staging strike, forcing general students to participate in processions during class hours, harbouring outsiders in resident dormitories by driving out legal students, using muscle power to make money through grabbing tenders and admission form sales, political clashes between rival student bodies and intra-party clashes have become regular features in the university.
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