Editorial
The furore at JU
Authorities must act fast
THE students of Jahangirnagar University (JU) must have been moved to a high point of desperation to have fallen back on an action that does not conform to the laid down standards of discipline in an educational institution -- but one must understand their frustration and the reasons for it. They were protesting the university authority's failure to protect them against harassment of the most abominable kind. It pains one to see a premier seat of learning in the country acquire a dubious distinction in terms of sexual harassment.
The recent allegation is not a one off case. Similar incidents had occurred in the past too and the offenders were taken to task. But such occurrences keep on being repeated at the JU. The matter becomes even more painful when one finds that it is again a teacher that the charge of harassment has been levelled against. It speaks so eloquently about the depraved mentality and the low level of morality, that those entrusted with the noble task of enhancing both the mental faculties and moral values of the students, have themselves sunk to.
The matter had come to such a pass that, reportedly, at one time some female students were compelled to give up their studies at the university. It speaks so poorly of the university authority's lack of sensitivity that nothing worthwhile had been done to see that such incidents did not recur.
When parents get their wards admitted at a university they expect that not only would they be offered the best facility to acquire a high standard of knowledge, they would also be safe and secure under the wings of their teachers. When something to the contrary happens it not only defiles the reputation of the institutions, it also taints the image of the teachers' community as a whole.
In this particular instance one finds it ridiculous that the authorities had formed a 'fact finding committee' followed by a 'higher fact finding committee' and eventually a 'high powered committee'. This move may well be construed as a way to procrastinate initiating action against the alleged offender.
Surely the allegation cannot brook any delay, and the authorities must also act fast to formulate a policy against sexual harassment - a longstanding demand of the female students - which for some inexplicable reasons have not been put in place even ten years after the demand was first made. The excuse this time, that certain provisos in the proposed policy conflict with the law of the land, is untenable.
Everything must be done to ensure the safety of the female students.
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