As public universities are set to reopen for full-fledged academic activities soon, there is an urgent need to repair various damages to the classrooms and dormitories. During the protest movements in July last year, many dormitories and classrooms were damaged and vandalised, and they are yet to be repaired for use. Moreover, due to a lack of adequate maintenance over the years, the physical conditions of most of the dormitories are unhygienic. The rooms are shabby, toilets are dirty, and dining halls are unclean. The university authorities paid little attention in this regard as they also failed to protect ordinary students from the intimidation of the musclemen of the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL).
In the prevailing environment, it is imperative that the dormitories are taken under the control of the university authorities, ensuring the safety and well-being of students. The presence of any student wing of a political party should be strictly prohibited, with only the elected or selected representatives of the legally allotted students allowed to cooperate with the authorities. This shift in control will empower the regular students and ensure their safety, a crucial aspect that cannot be overlooked.
The authorities should immediately take adequate steps to refurbish and repair dormitories to ensure cleanliness, hygiene and physical safety. It is imperative that there are frequent inspections to ensure that the staff responsible for maintenance is under close watch and works properly. Where needed, reconstruction should also be done to prevent any accidents. Electric wires need to be examined and, if necessary, changed to avoid mishaps. Necessary whitewashing should also be done to ensure the quality of work.
Toilets have been neglected for a long time in the dormitories. Basins, urinals, pans, and commodes need to be replaced. Where necessary, side walls and floors need to be repaired first and scrubbed with chemicals. Ventilators should also be changed to ensure proper ventilation so that wetness in the toilets can be minimised. Prevention of undue water leakage is essential.
Ensuring hygiene at the kitchens and dining areas is a significant challenge that cannot be ignored. The quality of meals at the dormitories is currently subpar, which is unacceptable. It is crucial that proper and healthy diet is provided, and budget constraints should not hinder this. The BCL leaders and activists set the norm of free meals indirectly passing the cost on ordinary students.
Over the years, the terrible gono-room (mass room) and guest-room culture forced freshers to sacrifice their dreams. Despite a series of newspaper reports, the authorities took no effective step to curb the ill practice of torturing ordinary students by leaders and activists of BCL. Instead, they got shelter from the university authorities. There is no more scope to resume any such practice.
It is also sad that many basic amenities in most public universities have been maintained poorly. The classrooms are fine, but the toilets and women's common rooms are poorly maintained. How the toilets at a university, the highest educational institution in a country, can be unhygienic and insufficient is beyond imagination. The facilities in the lady's common rooms are also inadequate, forcing many female students to compromise their sensitive health issues.
Classrooms, corridors, toilets, common rooms, dormitories and other premises of any educational institution must be clean, hygienic, safe, and well-maintained to ensure a favourable environment for study. It is the responsibility of the authorities to ensure this. The current state of disrepair and lack of maintenance in the public universities is a direct violation of this responsibility and must be addressed immediately.
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