BRAC leaves no vital branch of social development untouched. Its intervention in the education scenario originates from pre-primary education to tertiary level. It launched its tertiary level education intervention in the year 1992 with the establishment of Brac University in response to the growing needs of higher education in the private sector.
Its residential campus standing far from the madding crowd gives it a speciality assuming a different look from the private universities mushroomed scattering their presence in the country. Students hailing from the metropolitan cities to tiny towns of the country embrace the mutual blending of modern architectural and natural phenomena of the Khagan Brac University campus. Pupils of villages find the known village in their campus with an attractive colour. This quiet and beautiful campus hides from the highways and busy roads making it suitable for knowledge imparting and gaining centre of excellence. The campus also steals itself from the public eyes and knowledge. As an individual of Brac Central Education, my frequent visit to this dreamy campus of Brac University makes me nostalgic as I used to be a pupil of Jahangirnagar university which resembles this campus.
Brac boasts of having twenty-one training centres with modern amenities and sophisticated education tools and aids. Students of Brac University learn the whole administration of these Training And Resource Centres ( TARC) playing a very practical role. From my experience, a real scenario of the stage of drama played by Brac university students remains vivid in my visual memory. One day I got astonished to see a young boy occupied the seat of the In-charge of Savar TARC. Again, the toilet was being washed by two young and very smart guys. Several young girls of the university were doing the duties of receptionists. The same thing I observed at the main gate of the campus. Suddenly several of my ex-students of ( Rajuk College) came forward and offered me a very cordial salam and kept me informed of that days’ activities on the campus they were going to perform. Really I was impressed to learn this sort of initiative of Brac University to groom the young university students. Young boys carrying brushes cleaning the bathrooms raised questions in my minds first actually who they were. In this way all the duty posts and places occupied by Brac University students fully demonstrate their enthusiasm to have knowledge from the pragmatic fields and real scene which I think very much practical life-oriented and other private universities stand far apart from this phenomenon of Brac University.
Alexander Selkerk said, “ O solitude! Where are the charms That sages have seen in thy face?” yes, humans long for solitude and loneliness stands as part of the cycle of life. But it doesn’t retain its charm always. Living in a secluded but shrouded with green foliage for long brings a sort of tiredness and disliking. Brac university students have novelty in this regard. They need not live in the same venue of learning for long. Part of their campus remains in the hue and cry of Dhaka city standing in close contact with busy city road. Attending classes in this chirping campus and they enjoy remaining in their houses in the lap of their parents to strengthen family ties. So, they have the taste of family life, busy city life and secluded but buzzing with fellow students’ campus.
The students of Brac University compulsorily live three months in its Savar campus suitably located twenty kilometres north of the din and bustle of the city of Dhaka. Here learners get a full demonstration of the activities of Brac Training Centre. Learners are to play the role of TARC In-charge, peon, office bearers, cook, waiter etc. these are the reflection of their practical life which they are going to face in future. And it is further from the truth that no other private universities running in the country can offer such kind of excellent scope to have a practical demonstration to shape their lives.
How students are to match their life away from the family life where they were nurtured from their childhood. They are given training on how to adjust the life without family and near and dear ones. How to manage the affairs of everyday life without the help of family is taught and demonstrated here very pragmatically. Definitely, the residential facility gives excellence to Brac University.
About the Author
Masum Billah works as a President of the English Teachers' Association of Bangladesh (ETAB), Dhaka, Bangladesh. He previously worked as an Education Specialist at BRAC, an international NGO in Bangladesh.