A ghostly rule that bans female married students from DU halls

Dhaka University (DU) has a rule which bans married female students from its residential dormitory halls. Surprisingly there is no such law or rule in black and white that can be referred to.

Nevertheless, female hall authorities of the top public university of the country continue to practice this ghostly rule. They continue to keep married female students out of residential halls in contrast to other public universities, creating discontent among students.

No higher university authorities, including the vice-chancellor, pro-vice-chancellor, or provosts have ever read or seen such rules in any document so far.

The same kind of 'rule' is there for the male residential halls of DU but they never impose this on the students and the 'rule' is not the same for each hall, sources said.

The issue surfaced recently after a married female student of DU lost her residential hall room when she got married.

The matter was widely criticised on social media by various quarters and female students started a movement against this practice at female halls.

The students of five female halls at DU demanded removal of existing restrictions on pregnant and married students with regard to staying in university residential halls.

Sources involved in room allotment at five female residential halls of DU said if any student is married, she needs to inform the authorities immediately, otherwise her seat will be cancelled. Married students are allowed to stay in halls for their current academic session under special consideration. If a student becomes pregnant, she too cannot stay in the halls, they added.

The Business Standard (TBS) correspondent tried to obtain a copy of the law which the female halls follow and talked to the top authorities of the university and halls, but failed to do so as no one knows the matter properly.

Professor Akhtaruzzaman, vice-chancellor of DU, told TBS they would discuss the matter at their next meeting to be held soon.

"We will have to see what provisions are actually there in this regard," he said.

Professor ASM Maksud Kamal, pro-vice-chancellor (Academic) of DU, said he had no knowledge of the law.

Prof Zeenat Huda, provost of Ruqayyah Hall at DU, said the rules have been practiced for a long time taking into consideration social norms in Bangladesh.

"Since the establishment of the university the rule exists," she said, adding, "the rules are necessary to prevent early marriage of female students as many guardians force their student children to get married. The students can save themselves from an early marriage citing hall 'rules', '' she explained.

Prof Zeenat also said the same rules apply to male halls, though the authorities of male halls never enforce it.

Prof Lafifa Jamal, provost of Shamsunnahar Hall, said it has been in practice for a long time now, but it is high time to change it.

"I will talk to the university authorities in this regard," she said.

Delwar Hossain, provost of Shahid Sergeant Zahurul Huq Hall at DU, said it is very difficult to keep track of male students as they can move about from the halls at any time of the day or night.

"Male residential dormitory halls never impose any bans on students after marriage since the issue has not created any problem at any hall so far," he said.

Abdul Bashir, Provost of Bijoy Ekattor hall said that he did not apply this provision and he does not know of any such rules.

Prof Zahidul Islam, former provost of Zahurul Huq Hall, said the rules are being applied, actually due to a shortage of dormitory seats, but the issue can be resolved in discussion.

SK Tasnim Afroz Emi, spokesperson of the student movement, said, it was a cruel decision of the university to keep a pregnant student out of the hall. Female students are also not allowed to go in and out of the halls after 8:00 pm even in an emergency, which needs to change.

She warned of waging a tougher movement if their demands are not met.

As many as 14,000 female students study at DU, attached to five female halls, although only 8000 are dormitory hall residents.

Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University (MBSTU) on Saturday asked married students to vacate halls and not to apply for seats at halls.

This incident also drew criticism, forcing the MBSTU authorities to revisit the decision.

Nargis Akhter, provost of Jahanara Imam Hall of MBSTU said the decision to keep married students out of the halls was inhumane. "We will discuss it at the next meeting and I think this provision will be eliminated."

Scenario of some other public universities

Motahar Hossain, former president of Provosts' Committee at Jahangirnagar University, told TBS that they do not have any such rules which ban married female students from halls.

"Many married students are staying at JU halls. It is not good policy to ban females from residential dormitory halls. They must have rights to get married and also be able to stay in halls," he said.

Tawsia Tajmim, a former student of Taposhi Rabeya Hall at Rajshahi University, said there is no bar on married students staying in halls at her university.