Photo: Collected
Although the original master plan set out its design and size, the much-awaited Teachers-Students Centre (TSC) at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) has still not been built. More than three and a half decades after the university’s founding, it does not exist in reality. As a result, students and teachers have for 34 long years been deprived of the chance to pursue cultural, intellectual and social activities under one roof.
University master plan documents (1985-2015) show that a high-level inter-ministerial meeting was held on 7 and 9 May 1992. The meeting’s decision gave clear instructions in SUST’s master plan No 8 to build a full-fledged Teachers-Students Centre (TSC) and a central auditorium.
Under the plan, the TSC was to be housed in a four-storey building of 1800 square metres. It was to include a modern seminar room, a small auditorium, a well-equipped cafeteria, the office of the central students’ union (SUCSU) and separate rehearsal rooms for students’ cultural activities.
But nearly three and a half decades after the master plan, it remains locked in the master plan file. With no TSC, around a dozen cultural, social and voluntary organisations at the university have to run their activities in the open or on building verandas.
Students raised the demand for a TSC many times in the past, but no effective steps were taken. Representatives of various social and political student organisations have also demanded the TSC be set up quickly.
Riaz Hossain Rimon, member secretary of the SUST unit of Chhatra Shakti, said, ‘Establishing a full-fledged TSC has long been the expectation of teachers and students at the university. But unfortunately, despite talk of initiatives and plans to set up a TSC, it has not been implemented to this day because of the administration’s lack of interest. We want the university administration to take effective steps to quickly establish a full-fledged TSC to ensure an environment for students’ co-curricular activities, cultural practice and healthy recreation.’
Mujahidul Islam, secretary of the SUST unit of Chhatra Shibir, refuses to see the university as merely a place to earn a degree. He said, ‘A university is not just a place to earn a certificate. People come here from different regions. Exchanging manners, culture and so on with people from different regions is the basic purpose of a university. The TSC is one of the main places for this. But unfortunately, a TSC has not been set up to this day at the country’s first science and technology university. As a result, students are deprived of proper facilities to take part in various co-curricular activities. So a TSC for everyone needs to be established on campus.’
Raising the same demand, Nayeem Sarkar, general secretary of the SUST unit of Chhatra Dal, said, ‘The TSC is the heartbeat of an autonomous university. The TSC creates a bond between students and teachers. And SUST is one of the best universities in the country. So establishing a TSC here is urgent.’
He also demanded that a TSC be built and sufficient rooms be allocated to all social and political student organisations.
Asked about the overall matter, Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Khairul Islam said, ‘A university should have a TSC. But even if one wants, nothing can be done in a rush. I joined only a few months ago. But we will make efforts to implement such activities.’
Background
According to a bdnews24.com report of 22 January 2023, SUST was founded in 1986, but academic activities began in 1992.
At a glance
The same report said that around 10,000 students were then studying in 27 departments under seven faculties and two institutes of the university.
Sources
Background sources: bdnews24.com, 22 January 2023
