The culture of respect at Dhaka University
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
Dr. Md. Mahmudul Hasan
RECENTLY, one teacher of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Dhaka University was slapped on the face and another was abused by their senior colleague at work place. At Chittagong University, a professor was locked in an office room yesterday (March 07, 2010) for nearly an hour by the affiliates of a student organisation, as their 'leader' was not recruited as a teacher in the Department of Sociology of the University. Obviously, links with the ruling party have a big role to play in such incidents of crude misbehaviour and disrespect. However, this suggests the deeper truth of the widespread and increasing degradation of the culture of respect at the higher seats of learning of the country.
I lived in the West for a number of years and finally came back to my beloved country with the noble ambition of serving it through teaching my young compatriots. I had the luck to join in a prestigious department at Dhaka University.
I had had no legal obligation to come back home, as I had done by PhD in UK on my own initiative before I joined the University. Among other things, the putative culture of respect that the teachers of Dhaka University are presumed to enjoy influenced my decision to work here. However, it did not take long for me to be disillusioned.
I enjoy the enormous respect and good behaviour of my students, especially those hailing from the rural areas.
However, the attitude of some senior teachers to their junior colleagues (who were once their students) is somewhat condescending and patronising. In department meetings, the junior faculties have to hear the monologues of their superiors and have little chance to speak up. The way many members of the non-teaching staff behave towards junior teachers is particularly interesting. In most cases, their conduct is governed by a notion that showing respect to few heavyweights who run the University and to some selective professors will keep troubles at bay; hence, respecting the junior teachers does not feature very prominent in their consciousness. This goes from the department office to the Registrar Building.
Once I had the odd experience of being embarrassed when I went to the Registrar Building to see a high official (who is also a professor). My feeling of self-respect was exceedingly wounded when I found that he deemed it more important to ask some journalist students to have their seats while he kept me standing in front of them until I forced myself on a chair. Perhaps, the only way remaining for the junior faculties of DU to command respect is to become politically active (which in my opinion should not be the choice of a good academic) or to show some form of clout through a non-academic manner. If this does not go with the temperament of a DU teacher, respect for them at the campus is a mirage in the desert.
Respect for DU teachers in the wider society of Bangladesh is encouraging. However, if what has been happening within its groves continues, that may diminish before long. It is still not too late to restore a good culture of respect at DU, and that depends on the will of those who run it. Unfortunately, I doubt that they are serious in this matter and that they will feel its urgency soon, as they are not the direct victims of the deterioration of the culture of respect. If my apprehension is true, all of us may not have to wait long to see people (within Bangladesh and beyond) laugh at our beloved DU as they giggle at what happens in our parliament building, the Sangsad Bhaban.
E-mail: wpmh12@hotmail.com
RECENTLY, one teacher of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Dhaka University was slapped on the face and another was abused by their senior colleague at work place. At Chittagong University, a professor was locked in an office room yesterday (March 07, 2010) for nearly an hour by the affiliates of a student organisation, as their 'leader' was not recruited as a teacher in the Department of Sociology of the University. Obviously, links with the ruling party have a big role to play in such incidents of crude misbehaviour and disrespect. However, this suggests the deeper truth of the widespread and increasing degradation of the culture of respect at the higher seats of learning of the country.
I lived in the West for a number of years and finally came back to my beloved country with the noble ambition of serving it through teaching my young compatriots. I had the luck to join in a prestigious department at Dhaka University.
I had had no legal obligation to come back home, as I had done by PhD in UK on my own initiative before I joined the University. Among other things, the putative culture of respect that the teachers of Dhaka University are presumed to enjoy influenced my decision to work here. However, it did not take long for me to be disillusioned.
I enjoy the enormous respect and good behaviour of my students, especially those hailing from the rural areas.
However, the attitude of some senior teachers to their junior colleagues (who were once their students) is somewhat condescending and patronising. In department meetings, the junior faculties have to hear the monologues of their superiors and have little chance to speak up. The way many members of the non-teaching staff behave towards junior teachers is particularly interesting. In most cases, their conduct is governed by a notion that showing respect to few heavyweights who run the University and to some selective professors will keep troubles at bay; hence, respecting the junior teachers does not feature very prominent in their consciousness. This goes from the department office to the Registrar Building.
Once I had the odd experience of being embarrassed when I went to the Registrar Building to see a high official (who is also a professor). My feeling of self-respect was exceedingly wounded when I found that he deemed it more important to ask some journalist students to have their seats while he kept me standing in front of them until I forced myself on a chair. Perhaps, the only way remaining for the junior faculties of DU to command respect is to become politically active (which in my opinion should not be the choice of a good academic) or to show some form of clout through a non-academic manner. If this does not go with the temperament of a DU teacher, respect for them at the campus is a mirage in the desert.
Respect for DU teachers in the wider society of Bangladesh is encouraging. However, if what has been happening within its groves continues, that may diminish before long. It is still not too late to restore a good culture of respect at DU, and that depends on the will of those who run it. Unfortunately, I doubt that they are serious in this matter and that they will feel its urgency soon, as they are not the direct victims of the deterioration of the culture of respect. If my apprehension is true, all of us may not have to wait long to see people (within Bangladesh and beyond) laugh at our beloved DU as they giggle at what happens in our parliament building, the Sangsad Bhaban.
E-mail: wpmh12@hotmail.com