University: A Path of Hurdles

Get admitted to a reputed public university of the country and your life will be set - is the common theme that has been in practice in our country for a long time. Starting from the parents to the teachers of various coaching centers specializing in university admission have turned this into a tagline. It will be hard, if not impossible, to find a student who has not heard something along these lines during their preparation phase. What is more shocking is that the students who consider their parents and teachers as godly figures often believe these taglines and prepare accordingly. Subsequently, when they start their university life, they face the harsh reality and their previous idea about “University Life” seems to fade away, only to realize that the journey ahead is not easy, instead it’s filled with obstacles and hurdles, for which they are not remotely prepared.

The first thing that shocks most of the students newly admitted to University is the depth of the courses. In our country, the secondary education system is based on pre-determined books and subjects. Besides, there are ample resources and helping books to help the students if they do not understand specific terminologies of their subjects. Besides, there is also the culture of students joining various coaching centers or hiring private tutors who can guide them throughout their syllabus. But these types of options are not available for the university students, even if two friends read the same subject in two different universities, there are chances the courses which they are taught are vastly different. At the same time, the coursebook of the courses depends solely on the teachers, although there are some common or popular books for certain courses. The change in academic structure and the lack of preparation for such changes often puts the students in a bothersome situation. The second factor that affects the students is the change in the surroundings alongside the shift in cultural and social norms. A person who grew up in a certain part of the country takes time to adjust if they move to a new location. For example, if a student who spent his childhood and completed his secondary and higher secondary education in Chittagong and had to shift to Khulna to attend University, they need some time to adjust and adapt to the cultural and social norms of Khulna. The other important factor that plays a crucial role in this regard is the selection of friends and staying away from family. It is a common culture in our country that first-year university students seem to hang around in large groups, which narrows down to a few individuals by the end of their university life. We cannot blame the students for this; instead, this shows us how accepting the students seem to be in the early days of their university life. As time goes on, they start to realize that certain friends or classmates are not the right match for them or their ideologies, thus their friend circle starts to shrink. Staying away from the family also plays an important role in this regard, as university life happens to be the first time they are staying away from their life and certain things which were readily available or norms in their households are unavailable in the new environment. The final factor that plays a key role in how the students adapt to these situations and changes. Most of the time it is heard that a student who was once meritorious in secondary and higher secondary is failing to pass even the simple courses. Alongside, we also hear stories about the rising depression rate among the students and the higher tendency of the students to get addicted to drugs, nasty politics, or petty thefts. These stories might not always be correlated, but to overcome these situations and ensure that no bright minds in the country, what is necessary is that the students know how to adapt to different situations. They are taught these lessons as part of academic courses or as a part of their extra-curricular activities.

The university students are the future of our country if nurtured properly these students will help to build a better Bangladesh but in the year 2021, 62 public university students have committed whereas the number of suicide among university students in Bangladesh is 101. Thus, it is necessary that we emphasize the mental health of the students and rather than giving them false hope, we make them resilient to adverse situations. Simple truths such as the difficulty of the courses in a university should be made aware to the students. At the same time, they should also be made aware of the social and cultural changes that they have to encounter when shifting cities. Various EdTech platforms can create content related to these issues and owing to their popularity, they will be able to reach more students in a short span of time. In most of the universities of the country, there are house tutors for residential halls who can arrange workshops for the newly admitted students on these topics. Besides, as the government is also focusing on higher education, UGC, alongside the Ministry of Education, can arrange workshops for the newly admitted students so that they do not have to face these shocks while pursuing their university education. We are all aware of the literacy rate of the country and the higher education facilities in our country have developed in the recent past, but to ensure higher levels of effectiveness and improve the overall atmosphere of higher education in the country, it is necessary that we look into these small details which are often overlooked.