No internet at RU dorms despite funds
Students of Rajshahi University are yet to enjoy internet facilities at residential halls although two years have passed since University Grants Commission (UGC) allocated the funds for it.
Moreover, the authorities have recently imposed a yearly fee for the internet service.
To implement the government's digitisation process, UGC allocated Tk 4.60 crore to set up the infrastructure for wi-fi for residential students and teachers of the university on July 25, 2010, administration sources said.
The setting up process was under the “Extension and Renovation of Network and Building Automated Office Management System” (ERNBAOMS) project of “Higher Education and Quality Enhancement Project” (HEQEP).
The authorities have already set up internet cable lines on the campus and provided internet facilities in the teachers' residences and hall offices but the residential students were left out due to alleged callousness of the authorities.
Students of various departments remain deprived of internet facilities at present although they need to access their course related materials and topics in the internet every day.
The global education curriculum was changing on a regular basis, incorporating new innovations, ideas and thoughts, but the students were still lagging behind due to a lack of sufficient technological facilities, said the students.
Venting anger, a resident student of Rahmatunnesa Hall, Nasrin Akter, said the much awaited wi-fi for student have turned into a far cry as the authorities concerned did not shoulder the responsibilities seriously.
“We are falling far behind students of other countries in many ways in the era of globalisation as we do not have internet access for academic purposes,” said Mithila Farzana, a student of Taposi Rabeya hall.
Terming the charging of fees a burden, students of different residential halls said they were already overburdened with the existing fees of the university, comparable to ones charged at private ones.
“How would the government's digitalisation process be fulfilled if the university authorities rear such an obsolete attitude,” asked Kartik Ranjon Roy, another student of the university.
Prof Abul Kalam Fazlul Haque, administrator of RU computer center, responsible for overseeing the university's IT sector, said they were not taking any decision on providing internet facilities at residential halls fearing widespread “misuse”.
The students would access illicit sites, he said, adding, “It will be a risky move for the authorities to provide student in the halls with internet facilities although we have the ability to do so.”
Earlier they had recommended the authorities concerned to charge the students as they added a bandwidth of 40 mbps to the 64 mbps already made available on the campus to strengthen the internet capacity, he said.
Meanwhile, Dr Raquib Ahmed, sub-project manager of ERNBAOMS, said, according to the proposal of UGC, they provided internet facilities at the hall offices and residences of teachers.
“It is the responsibility of the hall authorities to provide internet access to residential students in the halls as we have already provided the access points in every hall office,” he added.
Residential students will get wi-fi if the hall authorities set up the wireless network access points in every building by connecting it to the existing cable lines in the halls, Dr Raquib said.
Prof Mizanur Rahman Khan, provost of Sayed Amir Ali hall and also the convener of provost council, said it was not their duty to provide the residential students with internet as HEQEP was assigned with the job.
He assured to raise the issue in the next meeting of the provost council.
RU Computer Center and HEQEP sources said the university authorities pay Tk 65 lakh every year as internet service charges and US $ 18,000 for the university's Online Library system where over 7,000 journals from around the world can be accessed.
RU Vice Chancellor Prof Abdus Sobhan, however, was not available for comment.
On contact, Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof Muhammad Nurullah told this correspondent that they would seriously look into the matter.
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