Mohammad Eliash, a newly admitted first-year student of Economics department of Jahangirnagar University (JU), has been allotted a single seat in room 328 of Shaheed Rafiq Jabbar Hall. Here, he enjoys the full facilities of a residential hall which once was unthinkable for a fresher over the last 15 years.
Not only Eliash, all 2041 students admitted in this session at Jahangirnagar University have been allotted single seats.
In the past, a first year student of the university used to live in crammed "Gonoroom" along with more than hundred others. After 2-3 years they could think for getting official allotment of a single seat in a residential hall.
Artificial seat crisis at Jahangirnagar University prevailed due to various reasons despite having the facility of fully-fledged residential campus.
Leaders of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), student wing of Awami League, kept occupying many seats in the dormitories for about 3-5 years even after completion of their studies, forcing the deserving students to live in "Gonoroom".
As a result of the July-August mass uprising, all the residential halls of the university were freed from the influence of Chhatra League.
Newly admitted student, Mohammad Eliash said "after passing the admission test, it was my dream to get an accommodation in the hall. But, later I came to know that such a seat will not be available before 2-3 years, disappointing me very much."
"Now the whole situation has been changed and we got single seat allotment on the very first day in campus. Such an environment was necessary for proper study and mental development of a student. It could be possible as a result of the mass uprising," he said.
JU BCL leaders and activists who swooped attack on the students during the mass movement fled the campus after the fall of the Awami League government. Then the general students started renovating everything on the campus in coordination with the university authorities.
In each hall, the university administration completed the seat management activities, allowing the freshers getting single seat on the first day of their arrival in the campus.
Towhid Siam, coordinator of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement of JU unit, said, "the mass uprising of 2024 started with the quota reform movement, but from the beginning it gave a message for elimination of all discriminations also. We have seen that dominance of a single party in the universities, the "Gonoroom" and the culture of political influence was nurtured to create an artificial seat crisis."
After the fall of dictator Sheikh Hasina regime, the banned organization Chhatra League was out of the campus, eliminating "Gonoroom" and partisan political culture.
JU is the first in the country to allocate single seats to new students. We think it is the benefit of mass uprising. Along with this, other inconsistencies of JU have also been removed," Siam Added.
JU Pro-VC (Administration) Prof. Dr. Sohel Ahmed said, "JU currently has 21 dormitories and in every hall, even in new halls, there were the "Gonoroom" culture before August 5.
The ruling party student organization was responsible for creating the artificial crisis. They were out of the control of the administration thanks to ruling party backing.
This crisis was the worst in male dormitories. In some cases a student found it difficult to get a seat even if he got into the third year.
After the mass uprising, the new administration of the university managed to overcome this crisis and giving allotment seat to freshers on the very first day of their academic life.
"Our dream to provide student with full residential facilities has been successful as a result of the mass uprising of the students. Through the historical changes of the country, we were able to work freely. So we also succeeded in implementing our plan." Dr Sohel added.
JU Pro-VC (Education), Prof. Dr. M. Mahfuzur Rahman said, "We got a new Bangladesh through the unprecedented struggle of the students in July-August movement. In continuation of this development, We got the opportunity to create a new Jahangirnagar," he said.
As part of this, one of the first tasks that new administration of the university started was to fix law and order and strengthen security arrangements in the campus, he added.
Jahangirnagar University (JU) was a residential university on paper, but not in reality. Although there was an opportunity to have a full residential campus, we could not implement it due to the illegal activities and oppression of the student organization of the previous government, Pro VC said.
"After the mass uprising, it's our foremost target to allocate single seat to freshers and other students. Aw we are free from all influence, we could successfully implement our plan," Dr. Mahfuz said.
