When will JnU students' accommodation crisis end?

Jagannath University students have been grappling with a severe accommodation crisis for years, a fact that needs no elaboration. Governments change, and administrative chairs shuffle, yet the issue of resolving this crisis seems to elicit nothing but silence. For nearly 20,000 students, there is only one residential hall for female students, accommodating just a handful. While other universities are busy constructing modern halls and launching initiatives for student welfare, Jagannath University students seem to be perpetually neglected.

As a result, students are compelled to live in the unhealthy and overpriced messes of Old Dhaka, experiencing insecurity, exploitation by landlords, and the dominance of illegal middlemen. This is a state-run higher educational institution where talented students from across the country come to study. Yet, due to the lack of residential facilities, their academic pursuits, research, and opportunities for higher education are being constrained. Despite periodic administrative promises to address the crisis, there has been no tangible progress.

We urge the current government and the university administration to take effective steps to resolve this issue promptly. Constructing at least a few residential halls and improving the current situation has become an urgent need. If a student at such a crucial stage of their academic life does not have access to safe and proper accommodation, it will disrupt their education, ultimately harming the nation as a whole.

Al-Farabi Bhuiyan

Accounting & Information Systems,

Jagannath University

Farabi30034@gmail.com