Among students of Dhaka University (DU), the country’s highest academic echelon, 83.8 per cent of students do not want party-alliance students’ politics on campus. They seek a ban on party-based politics in the university premises.
However, 16 per cent students seek political reform, and only 0.02 per cent students are okay with party based politics on campus.
These are the findings of a survey titled “Students’ Opinion on Students Politics and Political Activities at Dhaka University,” conducted by the Dhaka University Research Society (DURC). DURC was founded in 2016 to inspire research activities, and run by the students of DU.
Abir Hossain, a researcher of the society, presented the results of the research in a press conference at Dhaka University Journalists' Association (DUJA) on Tuesday.
Abir said, “88 per cent of students feel that party allegiance student politics has 'no importance' on the campus. Besides, 96 per cent of students felt that party based politics had a negative impact on the campus
“Of which 71 per cent felt it had a very negative impact and 25 per cent a negative impact. On the other hand, 3 per cent of students felt that party based politics had a positive effect on the university campus, of which only 1 per cent felt a very positive effect and 2 per cent a positive effect.
One per cent of the students feel that party allegiance student politics has no effect on the learning environment of the university.
Meanwhile, 81.9 per cent students voted in favor of regular Dhaka University Central Students' Union (DUCSU) elections as an alternative to banning party based student politics.
On the question of central students’ union and party based student politics, 80 per cent of the students expressed the opinion that they “only want student council, but do not want party based student politics.”
The survey shows that 87.5 per cent students cited abuse of power as the main impact of student politics, and 94 per cent of students do not support campus-based or dorms-based committee of party alliance politics.
The survey was conducted from September 3 to 11, where 2,237 students took part. A quantitative method to conduct the research, Cross sectional survey method as research design and a pilot survey have been used in the research.
The survey questions were circulated through the verified online Facebook page and group of Dhaka University Students' Union. Along with this, campaigns were carried out on all social media platforms.
