Number of female teachers is increasing in the country’s agricultural universities.
In many cases they are doing better academic results than their male counterparts making space for them as teachers of the institutions after completing their degrees.
Ismat Ara Begum took admission at Bangladesh Agriculture University (BAU) in Mymensingh in the 1990-1991 academic year. Among the 60 students, seven were female. Ismat Ara Begum is now a teacher of the university.
“As a teacher, when I enter in the classroom, and see the students, mostly girls, I definitely feel pride,” Ismat said.
According to her, for several years, the number of female students is gradually increasing in the higher education in the country's agricultural institutions. Number of women teachers is increasing in those institutions along with the admission of a high number of female students, she said.
“Female students are performing better. As a result, they are getting chance to be member of the faculty on merit basis,” she noted saying out of total 51 teachers recruited in the BAU in 2022, 30 were female.
Former vice chancellor of the university Lutful Hassan said, "Girls are doing very well in every category of results. Based on their result females getting chance to be appointed as teacher of the university, he said.
According to the rules of BAU, at least seven percent teachers of the university should be the alumnae of the university. To fill up the requirement, he said, female students are doing well in most of the departments.
Ismat, who served as the provost of two residential halls pointed out the difficulties facing by the female students during their studies particularly accommodation problems in their dormitories.
“Many female students are living in the common room.
They could not study there. I saw the girls are studying sitting on the balcony of the hall, in the ground in front of their halls, even on the stairs,” she said.
Braving all barriers the female students try to adopt with the situation to pursue their studies, she said noting that devotion keeps the female students out of the risk of being dropped out. As teachers they are doing well, she said.
In 2004, there were 5.1 percent female teachers in the Faculty of Veterinary. And in 2022, the number stands at 36.9 percent. The number of women teachers in this faculty is the highest.
In the faculty of animal husbandry, female teachers increased from 2.8 percent in 2004 to 16.5 percent in 2021.
Not only in the BAU, the number of female students as well as female teachers is increasing in other higher educational institution of agricultural studies in the country.
