Recovering Jagannath University dormitories

A suitable residential learning environment is an important stimulus for students. Beside providing the right atmosphere for learning, it increases informal interactions among students and offers multiple opportunities to explore values, lifestyles and interests in a supportive environment. Compared with students who pursue study at universities from home, those who live in dormitories are found to be more independent and generally move in a wider psycho-social circle.
 Although the need for providing residential accommodation for students is an important function of an academic institution, the Jagannath University (JnU) presently has no such facility. Students (of the JnU) have been staging demonstration demanding the recovery of its residential halls occupied by land grabbers since 2005. The university authority had utterly failed to ensure a single dormitory for its students during the nine years since the Jagannath College had been upgraded to a university. On the other hand, the university administration claims that it has so far been able to recover three (Habibur Rahman, Bani Bhaban and Dhupkhola field) halls of the 12 grabbed residential halls.
Gradually, various quarters such as political activists, police and local influential groups grabbed the 10 dormitories, prompting students to take to the streets on various occasions. Because of undue pressure from police and political leaders, the 10 dormitories could not be recovered from their illegal occupation.
    A martyr's family lives in one side of Shaheed Azmal Hall, while the other part is occupied in the name of a cooperative society. Bazlur Rahman Hall is now Shaheed Ziaur Rahman High School. A local influential built a seven-storey shopping complex at the JnU staff quarters.
Meanwhile, the law enforcers have swooped on the agitating students, causing physical injuries to many. This incident has stirred the conscience of conscious citizens including the parents of the students of the university. The teachers of the university have also stood by the students and gave the government an ultimatum to remove the law enforcers and to ensure punishment of the law enforcers who tortured the students.
The university requires 30 halls to accommodate all the students studying there. So, even if the halls are rescued, the varsity needs almost 20 more halls. Now, the students live in rented houses nearby the university campus which is too costly for the middle-class and lower middle-class families to bear. On the other hand, the rented houses cannot provide the students with the facilities government allows to the public university students. Again, this demonstration of students is hampering studies of the students. Although the government was indifferent to the residential problem of the students, now, after the agitation, the education minister assured that legal steps would be taken to recover those dormitories. Along with the recovery work, stern action against the land grabbers must be taken in order to discourage the very trend.
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