The teacher selection board of Dhaka University has been accused of bypassing an applicant who topped her class in both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and recruiting candidates less eligible than her.
Nasrin Nahar of the university’s 2009-10 batch, scored CGPA 3.85 out of 4 in her bachelor’s and had a CGPA of 3.97 in her master’s, securing first position for both her degrees, which earned her the Dean’s Award.
She was one of 14 candidates who were called for a viva voce on Tuesday for the recruitment of teachers in the university’s psychology department.
However, the selection board, chaired by Pro-Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Nasreen Ahmad, recommended three candidates who scored lower than Nahar.
Faria Bokul of the same batch as Nahar, was recommended with a first class third position in her bachelor’s and a first class second position for her master’s.
Two other candidates were also recommended by the board. These candidates, from different batches, are also double class toppers, but have lower CGPA scores than Nahar.
The other members of the five-member selection board are: Prof Nasreen Wadud, chairperson of the psychology department, Prof Dr Mahfuza Khanam, subjective expert in the department, Dr Md Imdadul Hoque, acting dean of biological sciences, which is under the same faculty as the psychology department, and Dr Md Mizanur Rahman, assistant professor in the microbiology department and a university syndicate member.
Nahar had been recommended for a teaching position in the department by the department chair herself.
Prof Nasreen Wadud told the Dhaka Tribune: “The subjective expert and I both recommended Nahar to the board, yet she was not selected.”
Sources in the psychology department said Nahar had been ignored by the selection committee because of a bad recommendation given by a professor of the Psychology Department, who asked the board not to recruit Nahar.
Requesting anonymity, a close co-worker of that professor told the Dhaka Tribune that the professor was apparently smitten with Nahar, and proposed to in 2014 when she started her thesis with him, even though he was already married himself at the time.
He told her that he was having problems with his wife and would divorce her if Nahar accepted his proposal, the co-worker further said.
Uncomfortable by her teacher’s interest, Nahar got married to a groom of her family’s choosing instead.
Her decision irked the professor to the point that he threatened to block her from ever getting the opportunity to teach at Dhaka University, despite having stellar results.
Sources in the department also said that the dean of a faculty had strongly recommended Faria’s recruitment because they are both from Narayanganj, and she is a close acquaintance.
That dean allegedly also took her to former vice-chancellor AAMS Arefin Siddique for a recommendation for the teaching position, the sources said.
However, when contacted, the Psychology Department professor denied the allegation outright.
“This allegation against me is false. I have no connection with any member of the [teacher] selection board. This is an attempt to cause damage to my reputation,” the professor told the Dhaka Tribune.
When contacted over the phone, selection board chair and Pro-VC, Prof Nasreen Ahmad, refused to comment on the issue.
“Listen, I don’t think I have to answer any of you newspaper people’s questions,” she told this correspondent.
When contacted, DU Vice-Chancellor, Prof Md Akhtaruzzaman said the decision to recruit a teacher was up to the selection board.
“The issue is confidential. I have no option to interfere in the selection process. I will look into it when the recommendations are sent to the university syndicate,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.