University students' accommodation problem

Many students from villages move to Dhaka city for higher education. Unfortunately, many of them do not find on-campus accommodation or residential facilities in the capital. And the university authorities rarely help them find reasonable housing. As a result, students are compelled to either rent out rooms in private facilities, called mess, or share rented flats. Despite paying exorbitant rents, students face a number of problems in these places. Most messes provide unhygienic food. And there are not enough facilities for cleaning or maintenance. Often stray cats and dogs are found wandering on mess premises. Often, the messes and rented flats are located far away from universities for which students have to spend hefty amounts on transportation.

Given these dire conditions, students are compelled to take on part-time work or tutoring to pay their rent. Considering that students are already under academic pressure, they must not be subjected to these constraints. The authorities concerned should look into this issue in earnest and take measures to resolve the accommodation problems of university students. Messes should be monitored and instructed to provide good facilities to students. Also, both public and private universities should shoulder the responsibility of their students' accommodation.

Abu Bokkar Siddique,

Department of Marketing,

Dhaka University, Dhaka,

abubokkar241@gmail.com