Fifty
thousand college seats to remain vacant-800 GPA5 achievers won’t
be enrolled in BUET, govt medical colleges
ATAUL GANI SUMON
Many colleges
having honours and degree (pass) courses across the country
are likely to face a crisis of having the required number of
students to run the sessions although the pass percentage in
the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examination, the second
most important public examination, increased this year.
More than 50
thousands seats in the honours and degree (pass) level colleges
across the country would remain vacant as only 2.32 lakh students
came out successful against a total of 2.65 lakh seats in honours
and degree (pass) level colleges of the country.
On the contrary,
many students with GPA 5 in the HSC examination would fail to
get admitted to the government medical colleges and the Bangladesh
University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) due to ‘seat
crisis’ as the number of seats in the institutions is
less than the total GPA-5 achievers this year.
A total of
3,047 student got the highest GPA in HSC examination this year
whereas the number of seats in the 13 government medical colleges
and the BUET is less than that.There are about 1450 seats in
the 13 government medical colleges and 750 seats in BUET in
the first year honour courses.
Besides the
2.65 lakh seats in the colleges having honours and degree (pass),
according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information
and Statistics (BANBEIS) and University Grants Commission (UGC),
there are about 25,000 seats in the 20 public universities of
the country to enrol the students in first year honours courses
while the number of seats in the of 53 universities are more
than 20,000.Meanwhile, every year a good number of students
go to abroad, mainly India, UK, Canada and Australia, for higher
education.
According to
the latest report of BANBEIS, there are about 143 government
and 768 non-government degree (pass) colleges in the country
while the number of government degree honours colleges are 52
and the number of non-government degree honours colleges are
22.
On the other
hand, including the National University (NU), there are 21 public
universities in the country. Except the NU, there are about
25,000 seats in the first year honours courses of the universities.
Considering
these assessment, the academics and experts think that more
than 50 thousand seats of the higher level educational institutions
of the country will remain vacant.
They also expressed
their apprehension over the declining trends of the number of
students in the colleges under the NU. According to the latest
UGC report, the number of the students in colleges under the
NU came down to 6.59 lakh last year, while the number of the
students was 8.17 lakh in 2002.
They also blamed
the mushrooming of the non-government colleges, private universities
and medical colleges across the country for the crisis of the
students.Meanwhile, students who got the GPA 5 in the HSC examination
are already in for a tough battle to get admission to government
medical colleges and the BUET.
Thanks to the
opportunity of getting the marks of the fourth subject added
to their total, this year a record number of 3,047 students
got the highest GPA while the number was only 20 last year.The
BUET and 13 government medical colleges have only 2200 seats
to enrol in the first year courses.
"Really,
it’s a tough battle for us. It’s my long cherished
dream to get admit at medical college to take higher education
in medical science. I’m at a loss whether I would get
the chance or not," one of GPA-5 achievers from a reputed
college in the city said, anxiously.
Echoing the
same sentiment, another GPA5 achiever from Notre Dame College
said "Really, it’s tough to manage a seat at BUET
as the number of seats there is only 750 while thousands of
students have the dream to get admitted there."
Independent
Source:"The
Daily Star" Saturday October 09, 2004
