The Rajshahi University administration on Monday confirmed to have received a gold medal through a courier service returned by one of its students over alleged corruption in teacher recruitment at the institution.
RU Registrar Prof Md Abdus Salam said the gold medal and its certificate will be handed over to the vice-chancellor.
Md Nurul Huda, who is currently practising law in the Supreme Court, returned his Prime Minister's Gold Medal and university gold medal through courier on Sunday. He framed his action as a surrender in the face of the corruption, irregularities and nepotism he encountered in the teacher recruitment process at RU when he tried to join its law faculty and pursue a career in academia.
He made the announcements at a press conference at the National Press Club in Dhaka on Saturday.
Huda claimed he lost to the graft and nepotism in the recruitment of teachers when applying for a post in the university, despite securing outstanding results in his honours and master’s.
He topped both LLB and LLM examinations and secured a CGPA of 3.654 and 3.607, respectively, out of 4.
He obtained the university gold medal in 2017 and the Prime Minister's Gold Medal in 2018.
Calling education the backbone of a nation, he alleged that financial transactions, nepotism and irregularities in such important issues as the recruitment of teachers in the universities, can only spell the destruction of the country's education system.
“I am rejecting the medals protesting corruption, irregularities and nepotism in the recruitment of teachers in different universities of the country, including Rajshahi University,” he said.
Relaying his own experience with corruption in the recruitment process for three teachers for his department in 2018, Huda alleged that the then pro-vice-chancellor (Pro VC) and also one of the members of the recruitment board, Chowdhury Mohammad Jakaria, proposed a recruitment scheme that would generate kickbacks for a clique within the faculty.
Moreover, another member of the recruitment board and the then chairman of the law department, Prof Abdul Hannan, took Tk2 lakh from him as a loan, he alleged.
Though then-VC Abdus Sobhan, who was chairing the recruitment board, was informed about the issue, he did not take any action, Huda alleged.
“On the recommendation of the recruitment board consisting of questionable and privileged members, three teachers were appointed, all of whom had worse results than me,” said Huda, now a practising lawyer instead of perched in the academic world.
Mentioning that the investigation committee of the University Grants Commission (UGC) has declared the recruitment board illegal, Huda and his wife appeared before the investigation committee formed under the direction of the Prime Minister's Office and the Ministry of Education in September 2020 and submitted evidence of the alleged recruitment business and various irregularities.
The UGC investigation committee's report said the allegations of teacher recruitment trade and various irregularities were proved while calling the recruitment board an illegal entity, Nurul said.
The committee’s report also recommended cancellation of the appointment of 34 teachers, including VC Abdus Sobhan's daughter and son-in-law, who were appointed according to the teacher recruitment policy of 2017.
