DHAKA, Jan 20, 2025 (BSS)- University Grants Commission member Professor Mohammad Tanzimuddin Khan today said the Awami League established 26 universities in the last 16 years in political interest not to develop the country’s higher education.

“The 26 public universities played a significant role to appease their intellectual community to get their support and arrange job for the supporters of Awami League,” he said.

Prof. Tanzimuddin was addressing a seminar titled ‘From dictatorship to democracy: In search of discrimination free Bangladesh’, organized by newly published magazine ‘Sarbojonkotha’.

The daylong seminar was arranged at the Professor Muzaffar Ahmed Chowdhury auditorium of Dhaka University.

Tanzimuddin Khan said the facilities given to a vice chancellor, pro vice chancellor and other top officials of the universities was very lucrative for university teachers which allured them to be Awami League supporters.

“Instead of contributing to country’s higher education, most of the universities, established in the last 16 years had been a tool to serve the ruling party’s political interest and helped the ruling party student wing enhance their influence at local level,” he noted.

The Awami League government adopted a double standard policy for country’s education sector as they were highly interested to create institutions but they denied allocating necessary budget in the education sector, he pointed out.

The system was suicidal for the universities, derailing the institutions from their actual purpose, he said, adding, in most of the cases it was seen that the project proposals for the new universities were prepared by some beneficiary groups to realize their financial and political motives.

Editor of the magazine eminent economist Professor Anu Muhammad, Prof Dr Harun-Ur-Rashid and Dr Samina Luthfa of Dhaka University, addressed, among others, on the occasion.