Dhaka, Bangladesh -- Bangladesh’s campus leaders are more politicians than students. The mixing of national politics with student life makes them less interested in pursuing academic studies than in mastering the techniques that characterize politics in this country, including the use of extortion and physical force and the administration of patronage.
Mohammed Shahabuddin Laltu is the quintessential Bangladeshi student leader, a senior official of the University of Dhaka branch of Jatiyatabadi Chattra Dal, or Nationalist Student League, the powerful campus organization that is backed by the country’s main political opposition, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Mr. Laltu, now 29, has been enrolled at Dhaka for 12 years, taking one course of study after another to maintain his student status. After earning his undergraduate degree, he finished a master’s in commerce, followed by a diploma in education. He is now completing what he says is a"final” master’s degree, in education. When asked why Mr. Laltu would collect so many degrees, other students involved in campus politics said it was because he wanted to become vice-president of the Student Union, or student government, which in Bangladesh is a steppingstone to national politics.
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