National University Vice-Chancellor ASM Amanullah, speaking from experience, shared a recent incident at a Dhaka college where he found students using artificial intelligence (AI) on their mobile phones to take exams, while the principal quietly sat drinking tea.
He shared the experience on Sunday morning at a dialogue titled “365 days of the interim government” held at a hotel in Dhaka’s Gulshan. The event was organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).
Addressing the event, he criticised the institution’s curriculum, saying it has no connection with the industrial sector. According to him, the university is producing “examinees, not graduates.”
The VC said the exam system and curriculum of the National University have virtually no link between education and industry, yet no one talks about it.
He argued that large companies in Bangladesh still require graduates from the National University, but these students are often not skilled and have low ambition, making them easy to manipulate and employ for long periods.
Highlighting flaws in the exam system, Prof. Amanullah said that sometimes a physics teacher inputs grades for philosophy courses. Even colleges without laboratories offer 100-mark practical exams in chemistry, physics, and biology. In institutions where labs exist, no actual work is done.
“Recently, I visited a college in Dhaka and saw students using AI on their phones during exams while the principal was sipping tea,” he said, adding that finding truly responsible teachers is becoming difficult, with faculty often split into multiple small groups.
The dialogue was attended by Adviser on Shipping Ministry, Brigadier General (Retd) M Sakhawat Hossain, Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur, BNP Standing Committee Member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, and Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) General Secretary Ruhin Hossain Prince, among others.
The keynote presentation was delivered by CPD Executive Director Fahmida Khatun.
