Long awaited universities in Barisal
Wednesday, 11 November 2009
Onto Mian
THE leaders of the ruling party are divided over selection of a site for the proposed Barisal Public University. Barisal is the only divisional headquarters without a public university, an engineering university and science and technology university. Of the two tentative sites -- the issue of wrangling, one is on the eastern bank of the river Kirtonkhola, at the Dapdapia bridge-end, Barisal Sadar and the other one, at Chakhar under Banaripara upazila.
The decision to establish the university in Barisal was first taken in the first cabinet meeting during former President Ziaur Rahman's time that was held outside the capital on November 23, 1979 at Barisal Circuit House. In 2001, Prime Minister Khaleda Zia pledged to implement the project. On January 9, 2005, her government took the decision to upgrade BM College into a full-fledged university. In the face of popular demand, her government later changed the decision. And in May 2006 it took Barisal Public University Project at a cost of Tk 560 million. A 50-acre plot, 29 acres given by the government and 21 acres by individuals, was selected at Defulya on the outskirts of the city, bordering Jhalakati district. The engineering department of the Education Ministry and the University Grants Commission approved the project on May 7, 2006. As the Prime Minister, Khaleda Zia laid the foundation stone on September 17, 2006. Under a resolution taken by parliament later, the university would be named after martyred President Ziaur Rahman.
The emergency caretaker government cancelled Defulia site and chose Goriar Par on the Barisal-Dhaka Highway, about eight kilometres from the city centre. The University Grants Commission advertised for the appointment of a vice chancellor on November 25, 2008. The authorities took the decision to start classes of six departments of Barisal Shaheed Ziaur Rahman University by renting 16 rooms of Barisal Zilla School. The Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved Taka 950 million for Shaheed Ziaur Rahman University and Barisal Engineering College on November 29, 2008. Implementation of the public university and a engineering technology college projects in Barisal remains in paper, though three decades have passed.
The government will soon start the construction of the long-awaited Sher-e-Bangla University at Barisal, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said recently.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will select the site for the university at Chakhar to be named after Sher-e-Bangla, he said. The Education Minister also said that the science and technology university in the suburb of the city would be named after the late Abdur Rab Serneyabat.
On popular demand from Banaripara, the government should elevate Sher-e-Bangla College at Chakhar into a university.
The writer who lives in New York, USA, can be reached at E-mail: ontousa@gmail.com
THE leaders of the ruling party are divided over selection of a site for the proposed Barisal Public University. Barisal is the only divisional headquarters without a public university, an engineering university and science and technology university. Of the two tentative sites -- the issue of wrangling, one is on the eastern bank of the river Kirtonkhola, at the Dapdapia bridge-end, Barisal Sadar and the other one, at Chakhar under Banaripara upazila.
The decision to establish the university in Barisal was first taken in the first cabinet meeting during former President Ziaur Rahman's time that was held outside the capital on November 23, 1979 at Barisal Circuit House. In 2001, Prime Minister Khaleda Zia pledged to implement the project. On January 9, 2005, her government took the decision to upgrade BM College into a full-fledged university. In the face of popular demand, her government later changed the decision. And in May 2006 it took Barisal Public University Project at a cost of Tk 560 million. A 50-acre plot, 29 acres given by the government and 21 acres by individuals, was selected at Defulya on the outskirts of the city, bordering Jhalakati district. The engineering department of the Education Ministry and the University Grants Commission approved the project on May 7, 2006. As the Prime Minister, Khaleda Zia laid the foundation stone on September 17, 2006. Under a resolution taken by parliament later, the university would be named after martyred President Ziaur Rahman.
The emergency caretaker government cancelled Defulia site and chose Goriar Par on the Barisal-Dhaka Highway, about eight kilometres from the city centre. The University Grants Commission advertised for the appointment of a vice chancellor on November 25, 2008. The authorities took the decision to start classes of six departments of Barisal Shaheed Ziaur Rahman University by renting 16 rooms of Barisal Zilla School. The Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved Taka 950 million for Shaheed Ziaur Rahman University and Barisal Engineering College on November 29, 2008. Implementation of the public university and a engineering technology college projects in Barisal remains in paper, though three decades have passed.
The government will soon start the construction of the long-awaited Sher-e-Bangla University at Barisal, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said recently.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will select the site for the university at Chakhar to be named after Sher-e-Bangla, he said. The Education Minister also said that the science and technology university in the suburb of the city would be named after the late Abdur Rab Serneyabat.
On popular demand from Banaripara, the government should elevate Sher-e-Bangla College at Chakhar into a university.
The writer who lives in New York, USA, can be reached at E-mail: ontousa@gmail.com