The move, though belated, to transfer the control over academic affairs of private medical colleges from the Dhaka University to some other institution will be considered a step in the right direction. The government should have gone for it long ago. But whether the selection of the Bangbandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) for the job is appropriate or not is hard to say right at this moment. Since the BSMMU is a specialised medical institution of higher learning, the decision to put the academic affairs of about 50 private medical colleges under its management might be viewed as the right one. However, success of the move would largely depend on a few other supplementary actions.
In fact, Dhaka University (DU) is already overburdened with a heavy load of administrative and academic affairs of so many departments and institutions under its control. It does neither have manpower nor logistics to manage academic issues of private medical colleges that have mushroomed in recent years. Earlier, DU was responsible for managing academic affairs of a small number of government medical colleges. But it was never ready for handling academic affairs of so many private medical colleges. The relevant authorities also had not taken into consideration DU's limitations.
Since the government has realised the need for managing the academic affairs of private medical colleges better, it should not mess up things while transferring the authority from one institution to another. There is no denying that the BSMMU is better positioned than the DU in the matters of managing academic affairs of private medical colleges. But it would be important to equip the former with necessary manpower and logistics to carry out the responsibilities efficiently. Failure to do so would only lead to continuation of the problems besetting academic activities of private medical colleges.
Admittedly, the quality of medical education in the country has deteriorated in recent years. Though the number of public and private medical colleges has gone up substantially, the failure to ensure proper guidance and monitoring has led to the erosion in the quality of medical education. The rot is more prominent in the privately-owned medical colleges. The sponsors of a section of these colleges, allegedly, indulge in fraudulence and other irregularities to misguide the appropriate authorities. Many of these colleges do enrol and employ fake students and teachers to hoodwink inspection teams. The Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council (BMDC) that approves the establishment of medical colleges have so far utterly failed to manage the affairs of private medical colleges in particular.
The government has recently constituted a five-member committee to suggest ways of bringing the academic affairs of private medical colleges under the control of BSMMU. It is expected that the committee would go beyond its terms of reference (ToR) to suggest a few measures to help improve the overall situation in private medical colleges. Improvement of academic courses alone would not help much unless and until the overall management of these institutions is improved. Despite the existence of 23 public medical colleges and nearly 70 private medical and dental colleges, many students fail to take up medical education. This is happening when a few private medical colleges are failing to fill up even a fraction of their capacity.