Mohiuddin Alamgir

Public universities are set to reopen today amid a vacuum in the administrations after the resignation of at least 20 vice-chancellors, 10 pro-vice-chancellors, and many other officials.

Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus yesterday directed top bureaucrats to find out ways to utilise the power of the young people at different tiers of the government.

The interim government yesterday decided that all contractual appointments of the administration will be terminated in phases.

A wave of resignations has swept through the nation’s higher education sector, as an unprecedented number of vice chancellors from the public universities are stepping down from their positions.

The interim government led by Prof Muhammad Yunus took oath last night, four days after the resignation and departure of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina amid a mass upsurge led by students.

The month-long disruption to university education and two-week long closure of schools have led to the cancellation of public and school exams, upsetting academic calendars and hampering the education of crores of students.

Video footage shows police shooting at Begum Rokeya University student Abu Sayed, who posed no physical threat to the law enforcers, during the quota reform protest near the campus on July 16. He died soon afterwards.

The government is considering a “logical reform” in the quota system in the public service, but it will not take any initiative to that end or give any assurances until the matter is resolved by the Supreme Court.

Any disproportionate quota system usually hurts a merit-based civil service, and any kind of decision to reform the system, in place since independence, should be well thought out, experts say.

The government is likely to reintroduce mid-day meals at primary schools in 150 upazilas after a gap of two years with the view to ramping up school attendance and bringing down the dropout rate.

The general cadre jobs in the civil service have become so lucrative that even medical and engineering graduates are queuing up for them, giving up careers in the two highly specialised fields.

The number of students in all primary-level educational institutions has decreased by over 8.32 lakh in 2023 from the previous year, a government report reveals.

The Election Commission is going to investigate the allegations that the two brothers of former army chief General (retd) Aziz Ahmed obtained national identity cards “using false information”.

Despite repeated calls from educationists to increase the budget for education sector, the proposed allocation this fiscal year is still far behind the expected level.

For example, when the Dakar Declaration came in 2000, the country said it would spend 6 percent of GDP on education. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation recommends earmarking four to six percent of the GDP for the sector.

The overall turnout in Wednesday’s third phase of the upazila polls was 36.24 percent, which is lower than the previous phase.

One and a half years after it was launched, implementation of the new curriculum at schools is still in a shambles as the authorities are yet to finalise a method of evaluating the students.

The home ministry has asked the Election Commission to take legal action against the six children of Moslem Uddin, a convicted killer of Bangabandhu, for using a fake name of their father to obtain NID cards.

The overall voter turnout in Tuesday’s second phase of the upazila polls was 37.57 percent, the second lowest since 2009, according to Election Commission data.

A total of 156 upazilas will go to polls today in the second phase of the upazila parishad elections amid concerns over a low voter turnout.