Samia Huq Writes in Bangladeshi Press about Student-led Revolution and the Role of Civic Engagement

Samia Huq, Dean of General Education and Professor of Anthropology at BRAC University, published an opinion piece in the Bangladeshi newspaper The Daily Star about the July student-led protests that led to the toppling of Bangladesh's authoritarian regime. Co-written with Shafiul Aziz, lecturer in General Education at BRAC University, "Revolution and Education: Some Thoughts on the Political in Universities" explains how the protests against unfair government hiring quotas mobilized not only street and online activism but also "an unprecedented array of civic actions."

Huq and Aziz state that universities can continue to play a role in supporting students to become strong civic actors so they might effectively reform the country's political and economic structures and reflect the pro-democratic spirit of the revolution.

According to the article, students from both public and private universities rose above traditional political factionalism as they united to depose an autocratic regime.  Building on that new social capital, universities can embed civic engagement into their curriculum to establish university-wide networks that support students to "enunciate the new political and effective pathways," the article claims.

"As educators, we firmly believe that when such approaches to education are pursued, they provide the basis for healthy, inclusive societal change, and many students in this movement are surely richer for having received such an education."

Read the article in The Daily Star

Post Date: 08-20-2024