In a time when more female university students are getting admitted to universities, and clearing different board exams with more successful results than their male counterparts, Jagannath University (JnU), which is located in Dhaka, sees fewer female students enrol there than in any other public universities due to a lack of residential arrangements.
These accomplished young women from mostly rural areas find little interest in getting admitted to the 156-year-old educational institution as it provides no residential halls for female students. Moreover, the parents of these students hardly encourage their children to sit for the JnU admission tests for the same reason.
According to statistics, several public universities including Chittagong University (CU), Jahangirnagar University (JU), Rajshahi University (RU) and Khulna University (KU) have seen female students enrol in higher numbers there than at Jagannath University.
The female student population at CU is 36% of the total student population, with 41% at RU, 41% at KU, and 48% at JU, yet JnU has only 28%.
JnU Registrar Engineer Md Ohiduzzaman told the Dhaka Tribune that in the past four academic sessions (2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16) a total of 11,382 students got enrolled in undergraduate programmes, with 3,154 among them being female.
At CU, 8,475 out of 23,836 students are female, at RU the number is 14,000 out of 34,000, while at KU it is 2,323 out of 5,616, and at JU, 5,798 out of 12,000.
Critics blame the lack of halls for women as the main reason behind the lower enrolment numbers at JnU and many parents are yet to be convinced that JnU is fit for female students.
The female student population at JnU is one of the lowest among public universities in Bangladesh
Collected from Jagannath University's Facebook pageAccording to the JnU website and registrar building sources, there is not a single dormitory for females. JnU authorities had planned to complete the lone 16-storey Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib Hall by June 2018, yet 50% of the construction work is yet to be completed.
Professor Dr AK Azad Chowdhury, the then chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC), inaugurated the construction of the hall on October 20, 2014.
A JnU senior administrative official, seeking anonymity, told the Dhaka Tribune that the construction would take at least two more years.
He said: “We need more time to complete the work as there is no space to prepare concrete at the construction site. So, the builders have to prepare the concrete in Mirpur and bring it here late at night.”
Though UGC has undertaken several projects for JnU, admission seekers are not interested in the university.
Honufa Akter, an admission seeker for the 2017-18 academic session, told the Dhaka Tribune that she was not going to apply for JnU’s admission tests as there are no dormitories for female students.
She said: “University life without staying at a hall is like watching the world by keeping one’s eyes closed. I want to live in a hall throughout my university days.”
A few of Honufa’s friends – Nishi from Barisal, Bornali from Jessore, and Ruman Akter from Noakhali – are also not interested to sit for the JnU admission tests.
Honufa’s brother Masud Rana said: “Staying at a mess is not as safe as a hall. How could we send our sister to a place where she would not get a suitable place to live?”
Rafiqul Islam, the father of a female JnU graduate student, said: “My daughter has to stay at a mess as her university has no hall for females. I have to pay at least Tk8,000 a month for her living expenses and academic costs, while I only send Tk4,000 a month to my son who studies at Dhaka University and stays in a hall.”
Jagannath University Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Mijanur Rahman said: “The ratio of female to male students at JnU might not be very significant, but it is gradually increasing. Every public university in the country offers residential facilities to female students while JnU has not a single dorm for them. Due to the lack of halls, female students are not willing to sit for JnU admission tests.”
“Male students can easily adapt to life in a mess, but it is harder to find an appropriate mess for female students. Our city residents are not accustomed to the culture of a female mess,” he said.
“We have tried hard to reduce the suffering faced by our female students,” he added.
The JnU VC expressed the hope that the number of talented young women at the university will rise when construction of Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib Hall is complete.
He claimed that though the construction work is being held back due to lack of space for construction materials, the building will be finished in time.
