Editorial
College admission in student cadres' grip
Remarkable harmony between political adversaries!!
SELDOM do we have the opportunity of seeing the two major political parties, whose bitter rivalry has caused us great sufferings in the past, agreeing on any national issue. However, when it comes to exploiting opportunities, particularly those from which pecuniary benefits accrue, the two parties find common ground to work in complete accord. This happens as much at the national level as at local levels involving the party cadres.
We have an example of such a harmonious arrangement in Pabna Edward College where the Chhattra League (BCL) and Jatiyatabadi Chhattra Dal (JCD) have come together to control the admission process of the college in exchange for money, according to a report appearing in this newspaper.
The most shocking aspect of the matter is that in this utterly despicable exercise some teachers have also chipped in. Seats have been allotted to each of the groups through mutual understanding, to get their so called supporters admitted, under what has now become an infamous phrase - 'political admission'. And a section of the teachers has been given their share to play along in this business. But Edward College is perhaps not the only educational institution where admission seekers have had to suffer similar difficulties because of admission business.
The consequence of political admission has been that more than 300 students may not get admission to the college and may miss the current academic year because the college authorities did not pluck up enough courage to complete the process of admission. That was because the BCL could not finalise its list owing to an intra group dispute, which resulted in injuries to several of BCL and Jubo Dal cadres, over finalisation of the list.
We take some comfort from the fact that an enquiry committee set up to investigate the matter has found involvement of some teachers in the admission racket and we hope severe action would be taken against them. But there is also the need to free the colleges and universities of the country from the clutches of the cadres of the political parties so that deserving and meritorious students can get admission and pursue their studies without having to be beholden to one political party or the other.
We had in this column in the past brought out the deleterious effect of unregulated activities of student cadres. The disruptive behaviour cannot be checked unless the two main political parties take prompt and effective measures to restrain their respective cadres.
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