Undergraduate students studying in seven colleges have expressed frustrations as their final examinations schedule have not yet been announced. Such a situation has led to great uncertainty over the holding of their examinations.
Meanwhile, there was a plan to complete year-long sessions of seven colleges, affiliated with Dhaka University (DU), in eight months, with a view to diverging the session jams but complications emerged due to the Covid-19 pandemic crisis.
But the strategy, shared by the Coordinator of Seven Colleges and Principal of Dhaka College Professor IK Selim Ullah Khondaker in April this year, has not yet seen any light. In addition, students remain in the dark and continue to suffer, not knowing the details.
IK Selim Ullah Khondaker said, “The college authorities were considering to shorten the session to reduce the existing congestion and students’ sufferings due to corona. If Dhaka University students are provided with an eight-month session, it will be implemented in seven colleges as well.”
“There were plans to reduce the course time in advance. To this end, seven colleges will co-ordinate and try to complete the course within eight months. If the students do not object, the examination will be held in eight-nine months,” he added.
The students say if the final announcement and plan to shorten the academic year is not made and published in the shortest possible time, they will face huge losses. They are also anxious that the existing session jam has taken a new dimension for the educational institutions that have been closed for a long time as per the government directives to contain the spread of Coronavirus.
Amena Akhter, a second-year student of Government Bangla College, told Bangladesh Post, “I don't know any details about this, nothing has been informed from the college. We have lagged behind for the Corona pandemic. So, we won't overcome the situation, so that the syllabus and sessions can be shortened as soon as possible and the final exam results can be announced. This will reduce our loss to some extent.”
Md Mahmud, a third-year student of Government Titumir College, told Bangladesh Post, “If the session is completed quickly by shortening the time and syllabus, we will benefit a lot. Because a lot of time has been wasted because of the pandemic. We want the outline and details of the implementation of this decision to be made known to the general students by the administration as soon as possible.”
Asked about this, a lecturer of Eden Mohila College told Bangladesh Post, on condition of anonymity, “After getting affiliated to DU in 2017, our college used to complete all academic activity within a year. It would take us less than a year to conduct the class and final examination. But it got worse after Covid-19 forcing us to come to a standstill.”
“Now we are only able to conduct online classes, the decision to take the final examination is still uncertain. I don’t know anything about the plan to complete the session in eight months,” she added.
IK Selim Ullah Khondaker told Bangladesh Post, “We had a plan to implement the proposed plan but things did not progress due to the pandemic. Now conducting the final examination is our first priority. We are in coordinating with the DU academic council to discuss how the examination can be conducted.”
“Once we are done with conducting the final examination, we will be able to call a meeting to set a roadmap of materializing this eight-month session plan to cover the losses. This will be widely discussed with the DU bodies and principals in a week,” he added.
Meanwhile, DU Vice-Chancellor (Education) and the chief coordinator of seven colleges, Professor ASM Maksud Kamal recently told the media, "When the requisition (demand letter) comes from the principals of seven colleges, we can be sure whether they will be able to implement it or not.”
In February 2017, seven government colleges in the capital were affiliated to Dhaka University on the instructions of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to improve the quality of education. The colleges are: Dhaka College, Eden Mohila College, Government Titumir College, Government Bangla College, Kabi Nazrul Government College, Government Shaheed Suhrawardy College and Begum Badrunnesa Government Girls' College.
After the affiliation, DU and the administration of seven colleges have had to go through a lot to arrange the educational activities of a large number of students of seven colleges.
