Good Governance and Student Politics in Public University Campuses: Bangladesh Perspective

Abstract

Student political role is the most crucial and dominant in the history of the birth of Bangladesh. Despite having its glorious past in the birth of Bangladesh and bringing many historical political changes towards democracy and good governance, Student politics is now shriveling up the good governance and academic environment with violent and parochial political culture. However, with the passage of time, student politics is gradually losing its historical importance and legitimacy as political violence and brutality become part of its regular activities. Student political violence is a nationwide problem in Bangladesh, public college and university campuses are occupying the forefront of this issue. But despite the multitude of strategies aimed at achieving effective governance in public educational institutions, the level of success attained remains less than desirable. This paper intends to emphasize the student political scenario on the basis of the normative scale of good governance. Among many spheres of student politics in Bangladesh, this paper will analyses the scenario of public university campuses, where student politics have a distinct political structure from off-campus student politics. This paper will conduct a qualitative analysis to inquire about the status of good governance in these campuses and how student political violence and parochial culture deter good governance in those institutions and later impact the national good governance process. The research paper suggests that to ensure efficient, good governance on campus and at the national level, the current pattern of student politics has to be revised rigorously. To increase the chances of good governance in Bangladesh, a realistic policy needs to be developed for student politics and university authorities.