Clicky
City

Parents, students face accommodation crisis RU admission test begins tomorrow


Published : 27 May 2023 09:28 PM

This year’s Rajshahi University (RU) admission test will be held under three units from May 29 to May 31.

As the admission test is beginning tomorrow (Monday), many admission seekers along with their parents already came to Rajshahi. For this reason, the residential hotels in Rajshahi city are now full. Seats are not available in any hotel. As a result, the candidates and their parents are in an extreme housing crisis.

However, the university administration has not taken any initiative to solve the problem although there is a shortage of accommodation during the admission test every year.

According to the university sources, a total of 1,78,574 candidates will take part in the admission test against 3,930 (non-quota) seats. Out of this, a total of 72,050 candidates will participate in ‘A’ unit, while 30,674 in ‘B’ unit and 75,850 in ‘C’ unit. 

The admission test for ‘C’ unit (Science) will be held tomorrow (May 29), while 'A' unit (Humanities) on May 30 and 'B' unit (Business Studies) on May 31.

Every year, candidates and their parents have to face the housing crisis during the admission test. They have to stay at various places inside the university including the hall reading room, paper room and mosque. Many people even spend the night under the open sky in the central library premises.

On the other hand, candidates and guardians have to count extra money to stay in messes in Rajshahi. As a result, many people do not come to take the exam due to not being able to arrange accommodation.

Meanwhile, the number of hotels in Rajshahi is insufficient compared to the candidates and parents. There are 60 to 65 hotels in the city. It can accommodate only 1,800 to 2,000 people. 

Sirajul Islam, a second-year student of the university’s Mass Communication and Journalism department; told the Bangladesh Post that some of his relatives will come to Rajshahi to take part in the admission test. There are two more guardians with them. He is looking for a room to keep the other three, although there is room for two in his own room in the hall. 

“I have already visited different residential hotels in Rajshahi city. The authorities of the hotels told me that all the seats have been booked a week ago,” said Sirajul Islam. 

Meanwhile, there are about 5,000 messes in Rajshahi. A student can keep one examinee free. Apart from this, if there are additional candidates and guardians, depending on the mess, an additional charge of Tk. 200 to 500 will be required, said Enayetur Rahman, president of Rajshahi Metropolitan Mess Owners Association. 

Dipan, manager of Hotel Nice International in Shahebbazar area of the city, said that rooms of their hotel have been booked several days in advance. “We are getting many phone calls till now for seats during the RU admission test,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Shaheed Suhrawardy Hall authorities of the university arranged accommodation for the candidates and parents last year. Accommodation for 200 examinees and parents is arranged in the vacant space on the west side of the hall. This system is not arranged this year.

Prof Jahangir Hossain, provost of the hall, said that they did not make any such arrangement this year due to the fear of any kind of chaos as this year is election year. However, accommodation will be arranged in various ‘free spaces’ inside the hall, he said. 

Prof Sultan-Ul-Islam, pro-vice-chancellor of the university, said that they have talked to the authorities of the Hotel and Mess Owners Association so that the examinees and parents would not be harassed.

 Moreover, the residential halls will remain open for parents and candidates during the admission test, he added.