The authorities of Jagannath University (JnU) have been holding online classes in all departments every Tuesday of the week to support education to save on power and energy since August 9 last year. However, many students of the university are facing difficulties attending these classes properly.
Some teachers are taking classes late at night while others are missing classes altogether. Some students are even told at the last minute that their class won't be held that day. Consequently, JnU's general students are suffering from frustration due to the inconsistent and unreliable nature of online classes.
Many students who come from different parts of the country to study at JnU are facing financial difficulties and have to depend on tuition fees to afford their education. Because of the online classes held at night, many of them are unable to attend either online classes or tuition sessions. As a result, many students have lost the only financial support they had, namely tuition fees.
Maiunul Islam, a second-year student of Anthropology department of the university said that although one of his classes is held online in the evening, he has to attend tuition and study during that time.
Obaidul Islam, a student of the Islamic History and Culture Department said that there used to be an online class on Tuesdays earlier, but even that is not happening now.
Not just the departments of Anthropology and Islamic History and Culture, students from almost all departments, including Journalism, English, Mathematics, Microbiology, Political Science, Law, Land Law and Management are complaining about online classes.
Omar Ali, a second-year student of Institution of Education and Research said that despite the announcement there was no online class on Tuesdays in the last semester, and there has been no online class in the new semester either.
Ashraful Alam of Math department said that teachers take their classes at their convenience. Sometimes they even take classes at night, which makes it difficult for them to attend tuition.
A student from the Microbiology department who wished to remain anonymous said that no class has been taken online since the announcement of online classes. Even on the class routine, no classes have been scheduled for Tuesdays.
While asked Dr. Zakaria Mia, a professor of the Microbiology department said that a decision was made to hold online classes after considering a special situation. Now that situation does not exist, so there is no problem with taking classes physically.
In an effort to implement the government's expenditure contraction policy due to electricity shortages, online classes have been taking place every Tuesday at the university since August 9 of last year.
However, there were complaints from general students about the effectiveness of online classes from the beginning. Most students do not want to speak up due to the fear of alienating their teachers.
Jagannath University Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr. Imdadul Haque said that the university would not tolerate any violation of online class policies. If anyone submits a written complaint regarding the violation of the classes, necessary measures would be taken.
