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Campus Feature

DU students want an upgraded gymnasium

Tazmia Islam Nion

There aren't many places in the Dhaka University (DU) campus where students can go to between classes. The gymnasium of (DU) is one place that had lots of potential. It could be a great place for students to workout or just hangout during their free time. But one look at the place and one will not feel like going there again. Why so? Why has it lost its charm, attractions, usability?

Let's hear from some students whom we spoke to a couple of days back. "Look at the premise outside this window. There are grass and foliage, dirt and garbage. As a result, thousands of mosquitoes invade the exercise rooms. It becomes difficult to concentrate. Sometimes we work with heavy instruments. A few days back a student was bit by a mosquito and dropped the weights on another student's feet," said one annoyed student.

"There is no water in the toilets. How can you work here without water?" Asks another student. "The instruments are mostly outdated and in bad condition. There is lack of proper maintenance. The entire place looks so drab. Would you believe that in the evening some people come here to smoke cannabis? We informed the authorities but no action was taken."

"We hardly see the instructors. Sometimes we do not find table tennis balls or other stuff and go looking for the people in charge, but we do not find them. The place is in a real mess." Another student throws up his arms in frustration.

Well, that says a lot about the condition of the place.
It might interest many DU students to learn that once upon a time it was mandatory for the first and second year under-graduate students to join the Physical Training (PT) session. No student was eligible for promotion to the next year unless they attended fourty periods in PT.

Although these rules haven't changed, they are not implemented nowadays. It is probably not surprising that most of the students of DU don't even know the existence of such rules. When we asked some newly admitted students about the rules they said that they didn't know that there was a PT session. They knew that gym was only for players.

The authorities concerned admit that the gymnasium is hardly used by the students. “The main purpose of the gymnasiums is to help the students to stay fit,” said ASM Mofazzol Hossain, director, DU gymnasium. The gym has not been renovated since 1985.

“Although initiative was taken in 1985 for renovation it is not yet possible to start the process because of budget considerations,” the director said. The main source of funding is the government and university authority.

The present facilities in the gym are insufficient for the students. The director however said they could renovate and maintain the gym with their own income, like they do with the DU swimming pool. "The swimming pool is a source of revenue for us. If we can modernise the gymnasium and allow the outsiders to use it against a payment, it could be well maintained thereafter,” he said.

Despite so many problems and limitations the DU gym is still one of the biggest and most active gymnasiums in the universities. Even today when students get tired of their routine lives they choose to have some fun by arranging a football or cricket match on the grounds. The sight of the young students taking part in different types of exercises even in the ill-equipped gym gives a positive feeling to a casual observer.