CVASU students decry academic pressure

Students of Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University yesterday boycotted classes and midterm exams demanding that their academic pressure for which, according to them, one of their fellows died on Sunday.

Although doctors of Chittagong Medical College Hospital mentioned that Shubhashish Sen Shuvo, a fourth year student of veterinary medicine, died of cardiac arrest, the students claimed that it was the academic pressure that caused the heart attack.

Taposh Kumar Paul, an MS student of Poultry and Animal Sciences, said, "When we were taking Shuvo to CMCH, he was fumbling that he had been suffering from back pain and wanted to go home but could not as he had to attend a midterm exam."

Shuvo suffered the attack during the lunch break while preparing for the exam in the dormitory, said students.

Prof Gautam Kumar Debnath, CVASU proctor, said if Shuvo had informed the authorities about his illness before, the authorities would certainly allow him to go home and arrange a make-up test for him later.

Most of the 500 students claimed that they are becoming mentally and physically tired due to the 8:00am to 5:00pm class schedule five days a week and two midterm exams per course which are held in between this class schedule.

Besides, they have to prepare a 120-page practical copy for each course which takes around two hours from their daily routine and is "unnecessary", claimed Taposh, adding that Bangladesh Agricultural University has separate departments for animal husbandry and veterinary medicine but in CVASU every student has to study both which makes the syllabus even more lengthy and hectic.

About their complaints, Prof Gautam said this profession requires enough practical knowledge and the copies can help them even in their professional life. According to Bangladesh's perspective, a vet needs to have knowledge on both the subjects.

Refuting the allegation of conducting backdated and unnecessary courses, the proctor said, "We have revised the curriculum in 2014 according to international standard while problem based learning along with student exchange programme with the USA have also been introduced recently."

The students demanded that the authorities drop unnecessary courses from the syllabus and reschedule their class time from 9:00am to 3:00pm.

Prof Gautam said the demands will be put forward in the next academic council meeting tomorrow.