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Service rules, job security and professional development in our private universities
Emdadul Haque
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Photo: Banglanews24.com |
Privatization of education in tertiary level has created ample of job prospects in Bangladesh, although due to absence of service rules, job security and professional development in these institutions are in messy disorder. As per the Private University Act (PUA), 2010 all of these institutions are obliged to form service rules but unfortunately most of them are yet to comply with this while a few have formulated such rules based on the directions and dictation of the founders.
According to section 16(3) of the PUA, 2010 every university is required to make its own service rules and regulations and to get approved by the University Grants Commission (UGC). Syndicate of every private university is empowered as per section 37 and subject to other Orders and Policies of the UGC Ministry of Education (MoE) and to frame rules and policies regarding education, research, administrative, financial and other functions and to approve by the Chancellor. Similarly, each university is to fix a salary structure for teachers and staffs and to inform UGC under section 43 and UGC even can provide advice in this regard if such advice is sought.
It is alleged that most university authorities increase tuition fees within a short notice but they while planning to raise salaries for teachers and employees are spending one year to two years. It sounds odd but truth is that private university high ups including Vice Chancellor (VC), Pro Vice Chancellor (Pro VC), Treasurer and Registrar are holding meeting after meeting with the members of the board of trustees for increment, promotion and raising of salary of teachers and staffs but these meetings are ended with heavy food and sometimes taking of sizeable amount of money as a token of conveyances by the board of trustees. In many universities due increment and promotion of teachers and staffs are kept withheld for years. The authorities very often defer the date of promotion for employees, terminate them without prior notice in violation of section 46(3) resulting punishable offences. The punishment for such offences is either of five years of imprisonment or fine up to one million taka or both as per section 49. The victims are also eligible to get compensation from the serving universities, if their accusations are proved.
Maternity leave in many universities are three to four month regardless of government instruction for six month. In many universities there are leave rules but in most cases leave cannot be demanded as a matter of right rather as a matter of grace. A few universities are providing provident fund, earned leave and gratuity facilities except pension for teachers and staffs while majority of them are running without these provisions paving the way for job insecurity.
Most of the universities are heavily dependent on lecturers instead of senior teachers for saving large amount of money. Some are introducing North American concept of publish or perish mechanism for promotion reminding the teachers of involvement in three functions viz. research, services and teaching. Teachers are also categorized as teachers by choice and teachers by default. These concepts seem sweet but do not work optimal because teachers and staffs are overburdened with heavy work load. Academic activities including class hours of the teachers are being monitored by the authority in some private universities. In most universities machines for electronic punching or thumb expression have been set up for ensuring office hours for teachers and staffs ranging from for 36 hours to 40 hours per week. Undeniably in most cases VCs, Pro VCs, Treasurers, and Registrars are very loyal to the chairman or members of the board of trustees because they are responsible to them for their activities in line with the sections 31, 32, 33 and 34 respectively of this Act. In most cases they refer most decisions to the director or board of trustees for final approval whether it is promotion or yearly increment issue. In reality, these high ups are lacking power as most of them are of retired servicemen and passing their leisure time. They are also less interested to raise any issue of increment, promotion and enhancement of salary to the board of trustees fearing discharge or dismissal from the services.
It is alleged that UGC and the MoE off and on send caution to the university authorities the consequences for not having permanent campus but seldom enquire into students' teachers' ratio, stocks of books in library, laboratory facility for science students, class room environment and service rules for the teachers and staffs. Some universities offer appointment letter to the selected teachers just before one or two days of the commencement of class without faculty orientation, training and workshop for professional development. The power imbalance between academic high ups and members of the broad of trustees is a great concern for the professional development of the teachers and employees. The new PUA, 2010 is enacted with a big expectation so that education cannot be treated as a commodity whereas in practice the purpose is ignored. Basically the PUA supports the interest of the owners who are the investors for the universities.
Most university authorities welcome departure of senior faculties and arrival of lecturers as because they can save money by giving more courses to the lecturers with less amount of remuneration. Taking private university job as a service or career goal except few institutions is unrealistic. For the beginners the job here is lucrative but after few years it seems bitter observing the attitudes of the job providers and their loyal agents. Teachers are being evaluated by the students in every semester and in case of poor evaluation reports, jobs are not regularized and promotions are denied. But no reward is offered for the teachers with excellent evaluation reports. Since there is no provision for retirement of teachers and administrators in private universities, the old fellows are sticking to private university services even without bothering to sacrifice their dignity and personality worsening the job environment and service security for the young and mid level teachers and staffs. Even most of the universities are devoid of having human resources departments and so these teachers and employees are facing whimsical discretion of the owners and their representatives in their promotion and professional development.
The government is on the final stage to form a national, autonomous and independent accreditation council for supervising and monitoring the standard of private universities following section 38. The upcoming accreditation council and UGC must look into these matters on an urgent basis for the betterment of private university, a rapidly developing sector in our country with more than 2,20,000 students along with nearly 20,000 employees in 54 private universities. Government has recently approved another eight new private universities. The incumbent UGC chairman was affiliated with a private university for a long time as a resource person and consequently he knows more insights of such universities in Bangladesh. Notably, prior to the PUA, 2010 the concept of private university in Bangladesh started operating in early 1993 after the enactment of the PUA, 1992 along with its amendment in 1998.
The writer is a Faculty Member of the Department of Law & Justice at a Private University.
