President Abdul Hamid today urged the Vice-Chancellors of public universities to perform their duties with dedication and honesty and stay away from corruption and irregularities.

"Vice-Chancellors are the chief executives of universities. You've to prove your honesty, sincerity and skills while carrying out your duties. If you (VCs) allow irregularities or get involved in corruption, then what'll be the condition of the universities?" he said while delivering his speech at the first convocation of Jagannath University at Dhupkhola playground in the capital.

Abdul Hamid, also the Chancellor of the university, urged the teachers to uphold the dignity of their profession without being attracted to any kind of greed.

"You could join any other lucrative job or position if you had wanted. But instead of doing that, you chose teaching as a career. Therefore, you should uphold the dignity of the profession without being attracted to any kind of greed or lure. Only then students will consider you as their ideal," he said.

"There're some teachers who use the university job as a shield. Most of the times spend busy hours in weeklong evening courses and taking classes at private universities. They're very sincere in all these activities," he said.

On the other hand, he said, the same teachers are very reluctant about taking their scheduled classes.

"These teachers are also very serious about completing syllabus.So, they take 3 to 5 hours continuous classes. Sometimes, even on the weekends, students arecalled to attend classes for several hours together not bother about how much they understand," he added.

Hamid also urged the vice-chancellors to look into the matter strictly in addition to their administrative works.

The academic programmes of universities must be monitored to ensure that it is being administered properly, he added.

Mentioning that the major portion of the total cost of public universities comes from the national exchequer that goes into it from the pockets of mass people, Hamid said,"You must give the highest priority to the responsibilities of that university where you work."

Terming vice-chancellors and teachers as the main driving force in running a university, Hamid said, " Each public university has its own law. Therefore, you must be respectful to the law and abide by that."

Noted Bangladeshi physicist Prof Emeritus Dr Arun Kumar Basak delivered speech as the Convocation Speaker, where a total of 18,284 graduates and post-graduates were conferred upon degrees at the ceremony.

Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni and Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Mijanur Rahman also spoke on the occasion.

Speaker of the Jatiya Sangsad, cabinet members, advisers, national leaders, MPs, vice-chancellors of different universities, secretaries concerned to the President, and senior civil and military officials, among others, attended the convocation.