A Bangla daily reported recently that bullying of first year students at public universities is going on unabatedly. The report highlighted an incident that occurred on April 18 at the Dhaka University (DU) campus. Ordered by senior hall leaders, 10 students of mass room of Ziaur Rahman Hall roamed the campus that entire night without sleeping. They were bound to do this in order to continue their stay in the dormitory.
This is quite common now-a-days. First year students of public universities are often bullied in such manner by senior political leaders of the halls. Those 10 students were told they can only return to their own hall after 4:10am in the morning.
Similar incidents also occur in Jahangir Nagar University, Chattogram University, Rajshahi University and others.
Student leaders in the halls should make campus life easier for their juniors. But in reality, we can see that they are manhandling the newcomers.
In case of DU, many people had hoped that the situation will drastically improve after the long-awaited DUCSU polls were completed followed by the formation of a DUCSU committee. But months after the formation of the DUCSU committee, there have been no significant improvements in this regard.
As a result, common students continue to feel insecure. Many are suffering from depression and mental frustration due to bullying. In past, many students dropped out because they could not tolerate the torture. Some students cannot say anything to their parents and friends. This is a serious waste of human resources and talent.
How long do we have to wait for peaceful academic atmospheres and comfortable living arrangements in the academia? The authority should look into these matters urgently. This culture of bullying needs to go.
Alamgir Hossain
Kaigari, Bogra
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