Hasina rejects call for quota for English-medium students to enrol at BUET

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has brushed aside a call for special facilities for English-medium students to enrol at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology or BUET.

Parliament Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 12 Feb 2020, 04:59 PM
Updated : 12 Feb 2020, 06:36 PM

BNP MP Harunur Rashid asked her in parliament on Wednesday whether the government would take steps to stop the ‘brain drain’, especially top students of the English-medium institutions” from going abroad.

“Will you take steps to resolve the problem over huge unemployment by giving opportunities [to the unemployed], especially to the meritorious students?” he asked.

He demanded quota for students of English-medium schools for admission to BUET citing a court directive.

“It appears from the honourable MP’s speech that those studying in English-medium institutions are meritorious and those in Bangla-medium aren’t. We studied fully in Bangla medium. We may be not meritorious, but it’s not that we have done badly. I could have achieved good results if I got more opportunities to study well,” she replied.       

“Why should there be quotas for those from English-medium institutions? I don’t see any reason to go for this,” said Hasina, who studied Bangla literature at the Dhaka University.

She also said her government has created “enough” job opportunities for those studying abroad.

Jatiya Party MP Mujibul Haque Chunnu asked whether the government would enact a law banning evening courses to stop commercialisation of education at public universities.

The prime minister said the evening courses had been launched to ease the “session jam” issue – students stuck in delayed ends to academic sessions. 

She noted that President Md Abdul Hamid had recently spoken against such courses as many of the teachers are accused of paying more attention to financially lucrative courses.

“We are working to ensure proper steps. But there is no need for a separate law. Not everything needs a law. The university authorities or the UGC [University Grants Commission] can take steps. We will check why problems are arising,” she added.