Concerted efforts a must to address session jam

There was a time when training timings were synonymous with uncertainty. Now students, and their guardians, feel the same way about exams under the national university. You never know in which academic year your exams are going to be held. It is not hard to discern the state of disarray in the education system, when basic exam schedules are uncertain.

A report published by Prothom Alo on Thursday stated, a student who passed his higher secondary certificate exam in 2010 and was admitted into a Bachelor (Honours) class of a college under the national university, is now only in the second year. Yet his classmates who were admitted to private universities have completed their Bachelors' degree and are doing their Masters. According to the report, half the graduate and post graduate students study in various educational institutions under the national university, that is 20 lac (two million) students. The rest study in government and private universities. So a year of "session jam" of the national university means one year lost from the lives of the two million students. The ground reality is that the session jams don't take up just one year, but can go up to two years too. Even if the other public universities, the students face session jams, though perhaps not quite so acute.

The national university has long been facing the session jam problem, but in the past nothing had been done about it. The present vice chancellor has introduced a "crash programme", but that hasn't changed things much. It it takes nine to ten months to start the admission process at any university, if the educational institution has inadequate infrastructure and teachers, then how can the session jam be resolved?

Clear and coordinated efforts are needed to reduce the session jams in the national university. The proposal to bring the colleges offering a bachelor (honours) degree, under public universities, may be given due consideration. Other possibilities could be discussed too. A sustainable solution to session jams is expected.