Save the public universities
M. G. Mustafa, Kumamoto University Kurokami, Japan
I am in Japan for one year and doing research in Kumamoto University. Everyday I am learning about the disciplines, morals and patriotism of the Japanese. Here in Japan, it is very tough to be a teacher in a university because the candidate needs extremely high academic qualifications coupled with a Ph.D., demonstrating admirable research skills and publications in world-class journals. But now in Bangladesh the situation is quite opposite. Being a teacher of a public university in Bangladesh for about eleven years, I have been observing it very closely that a heinous trend has been set in all public universities, which is breaking the backbone of higher education in Bangladesh. This trend is to appoint teachers' wives as teachers in the universities. For this purpose, the husband-teachers play a very nasty role. First, they maintain close relationships with the so-called group or political leaders and then demand a reward i.e. the appointment of their wives as teachers. If the mission fails anyhow the leaders advise the husband-teachers to admit their wives into the M.Phil. courses, which is used as a credit in favour of these low-rated candidates and also it paves the way for the authorities to eyewash the critics or to overcome any other obstacles. What a shameful and heinous mutualism at the cost of a nation's talents and quality education! However, these greedy husbands are often the junior teachers who are inspired by the mechanisms followed by their senior colleagues and deprive the potential and meritorious candidates who achieve good results through rigorous studies. These so-called teachers set their targets and spend their times for the group leaders even ignoring their duties in classrooms and laboratories. How lucky they are! At the end of the day, the universities are undergoing an acute vacuum of merit and the students are being deprived of quality higher education. Unfortunately, this trend is increasing in all the universities but nobody is raising voice against it. Some intellectuals are writing columns and editorials pointing out the corruption and negligence of duty by university teachers, demanding "Unified Umbrella Law" etc., which are appreciable, but transparency in the appointment of teachers is the foremost priority to save the public universities.
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