SAVAR, NOV 1: Mohammad Eliash, a newly admitted first-year student of Economics department of Jahangirnagar University (JU), has been allotted a single seat in room 328 of Shaheed Rafiq Jabbar Hall. Here, he enjoys the full facilities of a residential hall which once was unthinkable for a fresher over the last 15 years.
Not only Eliash, all 2041 students admitted in this session at Jahangirnagar University have been allotted single seats.
In the past, a first year student of the university used to live in crammed "Gonoroom" along with more than hundred others.
After 2-3 years they could think for getting official allotment of a single seat in a residential hall.
Artificial seat crisis at Jahangirnagar University prevailed due to various reasons despite having the facility of fully-fledged residential campus.
Leaders of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), student wing of Awami League, kept occupying many seats in the dormitories for about 3-5 years even after completion of their studies, forcing the deserving students to live in "Gonoroom".
As a result of the July-August mass uprising, all the residential halls of the university were freed from the influence of Chhatra League.
Newly admitted student, Mohammad Eliash said "after passing the admission test, it was my dream to get an accommodation in the hall. But, later I came to know that such a seat will not be available before 2-3 years, disappointing me very much."
"Now the whole situation has been changed and we got single seat allotment on the very first day in campus. Such an environment was necessary for proper study and mental development of a student. It could be possible as a result of the mass uprising," he said.
JU BCL leaders and activists who swooped attack on the students during the mass movement fled the campus after the fall of the Awami League government. Then the general students started renovating everything on the campus in coordination with the university authorities.
In each hall, the university administration completed the seat management activities, allowing the freshers getting single seat on the first day of their arrival in the campus.
Towhid Siam, coordinator of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement of JU unit, said, "the mass uprising of 2024 started with the quota reform movement, but from the beginning it gave a message for elimination of all discriminations also. We have seen that dominance of a single party in the universities, the "Gonoroom" and the culture of political influence was nurtured to create an artificial seat crisis."
After the fall of dictator Sheikh Hasina regime, the banned organization Chhatra League was out of the campus, eliminating "Gonoroom" and partisan political culture.
JU is the first in the country to allocate single seats to new students. We think it is the benefit of mass uprising. Along with this, other inconsistencies of JU have also been removed," Siam Added. —BSS
