Students at Begum Rokeya University in Rangpur who miss a midterm exam due to illness will have to pay a fine before they can retake it.
The administrative order, signed on Wednesday, September 2, by the Secretary-General (in an additional capacity), Prof. Dr. Md. Ferdous Rahman, sets a fine of 1,200 taka for undergraduate students and 1,500 taka for master’s students, payable into a designated university bank account. The fine is applied upon the recommendation of the departmental academic committee, thus requiring prior review rather than automatic collection.
The rule has been in force since July
This is the part worth pausing on.
The decision stemmed from a recommendation adopted at the 57th meeting of the Academic Council on June 11 and approved at the 122nd meeting of the Governing Board on June 30. The order stipulates that it takes effect on July 1, the day after its approval.
However, it was not published until September 2.
Therefore, students took their midterm exams during July and August under a rule that existed only on paper. Those who missed an exam due to illness during those two months are now held responsible under conditions they were unaware of at the time.
What students are saying
Simon Sarkar, a student in the Department of Accounting and Information Systems, stated that a university’s purpose should be to understand students’ problems and offer them solutions. While fining students might be the easy way out, he pointed out, an institution’s true duty is to support them. He added that the university feels increasingly focused on professors rather than students, which he described as disappointing.
Mosharraf Hossain, from the Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences, presented a more specific argument. According to him, a rule like this should only be applied once students know at the beginning of the semester when their exams will be held. Each department should publish an academic calendar detailing classes, exams, and other activities. Imposing a penalty without announcing the schedule, in his opinion, amounts to oppression.
This complaint is not new. In August, students at this same university began a hunger strike over delays in the academic calendar, demanding written guarantees regarding exam dates and deadlines for publishing results. A department head acknowledged that the delay was real. Six weeks later, the students were informed that they would have to pay to retake the exams, which they claimed were not scheduled far enough in advance to allow for proper preparation.
The university’s reasoning
Professor Dr. Ferdous Rahman, Dean of Students, stated that the fine itself is not the main issue. He noted that the tendency to skip midterms with flimsy excuses has increased dramatically, and the absenteeism rate for these exams is much higher than for finals. In his opinion, the new rule will reduce this problem.
His own comparison is the most revealing aspect of the debate. If absenteeism rates differ so much between two exams at the same university, students are already deciding which one carries consequences, and the administration has now decided to penalize the other.
What students should do now
- Ask your department whether the academic committee has been given any guidance on what counts as acceptable grounds
- Keep medical documentation for any missed paper, including ones from July and August
- Check whether your department has published a semester calendar, since that is the gap both sides are arguing over
- If you missed a paper before 2 September, ask in writing how the retroactive date applies to you
Rising Barta will report any revision to the order, and the university’s response to the objections, if either is announced.
