Is 8-month academic year too short to complete syllabus?

Dhaka University has reduced the duration of academic year and semester to Eight and Four months respectively following the recommendations of the University Grants Commission (UGC) to recover the academic loss.

Several Departments and Institutes rescheduled their academic routine based on the plan and cut the holidays into one day.

The decision was made last year with the aim of recovering academic year loss and avoiding the unexpected session jam as a result of one and half year closure of in-person classes due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Students claimed to have been facing difficulties while covering the syllabus and other academic activities.

A student of Dhaka University posted in a private Facebook group about the decision, where the students put their comments and expressed their anger against the decision.

Mocking the decision, Sagor Prodhan, a Dhaka University student put a comment in the saying that the students start taking preparation just 10 days before the examination so the authority can rethink the timeline of the semester and the academic year.

“A semester can be completed in two months.”

Several departments of the university started taking the midterm examination and scheduled to complete the semester by April or May this year.

Seeking anonymity, a student of the Accounting Department said, the teachers are teaching students as a part of their job, not as a passion. That’s why they are trying to complete the course as soon as they can, what students are taking in these classes hardly matters to them.

Wishing to be unnamed a teacher of Dhaka University said, the administration is in hurry to send the students to the job market as well as the students are willing to be present in the market. That’s the main reason behind the decision.

Muhammad Abdul Moyen, Dean of Business Faculty at Dhaka University said, “We have taken the decision considering the pandemic situation. If we do not go faster the students will lose a year of their life and lag behind in entering the job market.”

“Students can take special sessions and classes if they face difficulties in understanding any topic. Teachers are here to help them out,” he suggested. “Students have to work harder to recover their loss.”

However, the decision-makers of the university in their speech several times emphasized on implementing the decision.