By Mirza Mosaraf Hossain, TwoCircles.net
The Minorities of West Bengal, especially Muslims, were very happy in 2007 at the announcement made by the then Left Government for setting up a minority institution Aliah University.
The aim of setting up Aliah University by the then Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya was to end the deprivation of the minorities, especially Muslims in the field of higher education.
Aliah University is an autonomous university under the Department of Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education, Government of West Bengal. It started its journey from two rented houses in Salt Lake and for five years campuses for various streams including Science, Technology, Humanities, Laws, and Management etc were shifted within Sector V of Salt Lake in various rented houses.
When Mamata Banerjee government came to power in Bengal, three campuses were granted for the university in the heart of the city—Rajarhat Newtown, Park Circus and Taltala, near the old building of Aliah Madrassa. It has now three hostels, two for girls and one for boys at the campus compound both in Newtown and Park Circus.
From the onset, AU has been in news at times due to demands from the students often resulting n stalemate with administration. There are numerous allegations against both students and university authority on grounds of corruption, nepotism at the time of admission and faculty recruitment, poor quality education, poor teaching performance and poor performance by students. “I was initially very happy with the progress of Aliah University along with the progress of other newly built universities in the state in spite of being a minority university and hoped that I will be admitting my daughter here in this university. But in present scenario I have to reconsider my decision,” Salauddin Ahmed, a resident of Park Circus, also a guardian of a daughter who is in her Higher Secondary level, said.
Hitting the headline of almost every news channels for petty issues, this university has shaken the sentiments of many community sympathizers. We will be trying to locate in this article the main problems –both from the student angle as well as from the administration for the recent chaos in campuses. Our recent story on Aliah University was an attempt to explain the current scenario in the campus and in this part, we take a closer and deeper look into all that ails Aliah University.
Admission Procedure: A case of missed opportunity?
Most of the students coming into this university are from the interiors of the state, mostly from Malda, Murshidabad, Cooch Behar, South/North Dinajpur, Burdwan and Birbhum districts and are obviously not the top scorers in their areas.
Aliah University starts its admission procedure in the last week of February or first week of March and the closing date for application is in the second week of April every year which is much ahead of admission process of other institutes like Calcutta University, Jadavpur University or Burdwan University. The result only those students who are aware that they will not be able to get admission in other student line up for Aliah University. Students who feel they have even faint chance in other institute, stay away. The intake is thus below average in quality.
With poor stuff coming for admission, there are reports that there are few takers for admission in good courses and hence at times all those who apply get admitted irrespective of their performance in admission test, if there is any. One of the demands in the ongoing protest was that Journalism and Mass Communication Department has 40 seats, but only 20 could clear the test. It is likely that to break the deadlock, all students will eventually get admissions.
With not so promising students under her fold, AU faces the brunt. Unable to perform well, these students then protest under some political banner for getting good marks without giving any exam or to get admission in M-Tech despite 37 backlogs in B-Tech. Students also develop habits to prolong their stay in the university thus taking admission in irrelevant courses after finishing their degrees only to develop a platform that will ensure their political lineage and avail scholarships.
AU administration too agrees on this account. Registrar, Dr Nursadh Ali said, “We are trying to conduct our admission procedure along with other universities so that we can get more bright students. We are also planning to revise our admission process that instead of test exam for admission we will follow merit basis admission from next year.” He admitted that there were many complaints against admission procedure and it will be soon reformed.
Students’ agitation: ‘Fight for Right’ or Personal gain?
Classes in AU are disrupted for past three weeks. Students have placed their demand– resignation of Vice Chancellor, Dr Abu Taleb Khan.
The other reasonable demands of students at Park Circus Campus include setting up a central library, full time university official like Deputy Registrar to attend their issues, proper drinking water, infrastructure at Mass Communication Journalism Department like atleast one Camera, debate club, film club for co-curricular activities etc.
Some more demands have been added—Admission test to be conducted in Bengali, internal students to be given admission in higher classes etc.
The flashpoint of agitation remains suspension of undergraduate course in Theology etc. But university administration cites unavailability of teachers in Theology for their decision. “It is very hard to get faculty in Theology department as it is taught only in two universities, Aligarh Muslim University and Aliah University. As UGC-NET does not include Theology in its list for for selection of Assistant Professors, how will we get efficient professors? What will be the implication of this degree if students fail to build their careers upon it?” Registrar added. He however assured that seats for honours courses in Theology department have been increased so that more students can get a chance.
Except the agitating students who reportedly have political backing, the general students want regular classes and stability in the university campuses. “Whatever is going on in the university should be dealt with a narrative. Merely suspending classes and blocking campuses does not help anyone come to any conclusion. We came over here for our career and bright future, but if this continues what will happen with our future?” confided an engineering student..
Administration
University administration for past three weeks has failed to reconcile with the agitating students. Main gate is blocked, classes suspended and admission process has gone awry. Meanwhile university is still understaffed, especially non-teaching support staff. It results in delay and VC office is flooded with routine files which might be cleared at lower level if university had adequate administrative officials.
Even after a decade, university is yet to finalised the draft for its rules and regulations. Thus there is piquant situation with day to day functioning sometimes is being done on precedents from other institutes.