Theuniversity ordinance of 1973 provides for the appointment of vice-chancellors from a three-member panel by the senate of the respective universities in case of four autonomous universities- Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi and Jahangirnagar. From the panel of three members, one is appointed by the Chancellor and President of the state. Sadly, almost every government in the past appointed vice-chancellors having strong political backgrounds, violating rule since the autocraticErshad regime.
After the fall of the Awami League government in the wake of the student-mass uprising on August 5 of this month, the vice-chancellors of the country's universities, on a large scale, are resigning either of their own will or being forced to do it. Vice-chancellors of private universities in the country are not left out of this resignation. A question may arise: why are they resigning? As they are not a part of the executive or judiciary of the government, the context goes somewhere else. It is, therefore, necessary to discuss to develop the answer opulently.
It became customary in the previous regimesthat loyalty and obsequiousness to the ruling party had long been considered one of the key qualifications for the appointment of a VC. Thinking themselves the representatives of the government, the vice-chancellors never faced trouble for the misuse of power they received from the government in establishingsupremacy of the ruling party on the university campuses. They considered the university areas kingdoms as if they had been the kings. The sense of unaccountability and arbitrariness turned them into the kings of Satyajit Ray's Heerak Rajar Deshe(In the country of the Diamond-King), who, instead of good governance, established irregularities and anomalies.
They appointed relatives and near and dear ones to strengthen their chair and tighten the ruling party grip in their institutions. During new appointments, if a candidatelackedrequired educational qualifications, they would appoint him or her relaxing the qualifications under special consideration. They loved to operate their offices being surrounded by a queer variety of sycophants, many of whom were prompt atdrawing the dividing line of politicscolored byBlue and White. If any student or teacher raised a voice against the abuse of power, he would be a victim of excommunication. In this regard, Some of the media reports published earlier in different times can be mentioned here to clarify the situation. The UGC, the regulatory body of universities, onceinvestigated allegations of irregularities, corruption, recruitment manipulation and arbitrariness of a public university vice-chancellor and it, after a thorough probe, recommended the ministry for action against the said vice-chancellor but to no avail.
The question is: how many vice-chancellors in the country took responsibility for corruption or resigned fromliability? Even for turning the university administration into a sanctuary of mismanagement and corruption, the reward of being appointed as the vice-chancellor for the second term was also given by the government. There was a precedent of appointing less qualified vice-chancellor's daughter and son-in-law as teachers by changing the teacher recruitment policy. The UGC also recommended canceling the appointment after finding the truth in the investigation.
However, the results remain unknown as we know there is often no follow-up after a certain period. Again, the allegation of appointing 37 employees on the last working day without an employment circular was against a former vice-chancellor in another university. A few months ago, there was an allegation in the media that the vehicle of the vice-chancellor's wife of a public university in Dhaka was rented for a year in a project of the university. A few years ago, students and teachers of a university published a 224-page corruption report while protesting once and again against the vice-chancellor's corruption. The instances of misdeeds of public university vice-chancellors were common features of newspapers.
Under the umbrella of politics, university administrations unlawfully patronizedstudent wings of ruling parties, castigating the common students in critical junctures. Withadministrative support and indulgence in hand, the students of the ruling party established absolute dominance in university dormitories even ousting the students having valid seat allotment, Many, therefore,now believe that though quota reform was the main motto for the student movement at the very beginning, the long-cherished wrath in mind finally led the students to topplethe government. In 2007. When Dr.Fakhruddin Ahmad's caretaker government was in rule, theso-called student-teacher politics got a crack, relieving ordinary students from political grip.
It was noticed that the vice-chancellors of public universities were always busy with the policy of strengthening their hook by tooting their own horns as a means of practicing political loyalty keeping student-centric academic activities aside. During the recruitment of new faculty, academic and research credentials were sometimes sidelined and more attention was paid to candidates' loyalties to the ruling party.By appointing new teachers, vice-chancellors considered them new voters of the White or Blue outfits of the university.
Blind adherence to politics and administrative imprudence caused institutional unrest and as a result of which sexual harassment and rape were among many other untoward situations our universities experienced. Based on education and research, the university teachers are entrusted with the responsibility of building tomorrow's world. Autonomy is given to the universities to practice freedom of thought in line with the competitive world, because it is teachers who can shed the light of learning on their students. Drawing a separating line among teachers withblue-and-white political colors cannot be the meaning of autonomy in any sense.
The task of giving the country a knowledge-based economy through the practice of intellectual thinking and research is the prime task of teachers.
Many universities in the country are without guardians today due to the resignation of vice-chancellors. Meanwhile, Dr. Yunus-led interim government has already instructed all educational institutions to resume academic activities. Many teachers, therefore, are perhaps passing busy hours thinking on how they can assume the charge of vice-chancellors. And, holding the charge, some may hatch plots materializing theagenda of any vested corners as they can easily wrap them up in the cloak of neutrality.
Therefore, in addition to implementing the Ordinance of 73, the interim government needs to formulate a framework for all universities to keep the universities, to some extent, free from political intervention. The universities which were sanctuaries of corruption at differenttimes should be turned into shrines of wisdom.
University teachers are the behind-scene artisans of advancing the country on the path of prosperity through the spirit of patriotism, new knowledge, science, research, and technology where the vice-chancellors act as guardians. Vice-Chancellors should be brought under transparency and accountability and the UGC should be empowered to take any strict action based on the inquiry.No matter how long the hands of the vice-chancellors are, the government should not hesitate to remove them if allegations of corruption are found true. Instances of the Vice-Chancellor trying to shape the university as a model are a few now, but there were many in the past. If the work of the vice-chancellor of a university is corruption-free, student-friendly, and research-oriented, then a vice-chancellor can think of himself as a king - none should have any objection.
The writer is Assistant Professor and Head of Department of English Ishakha International University, Kishoreganj
