Dhaka University — the largest and most prestigious public university of the country — has been accused of gross neglect of its visually impaired students, after it emerged that the institution’s only resource centre for the vulnerable learner group holds just 23 books for all 84 departments.
The Visually Impaired Resource Centre (VIRC), established in 2007 with the stated aim of supporting visually impaired students, covers partial course materials for only 10 departments. Some of the books are so large that they have been printed in multiple parts, bringing the total number of physical Braille volumes to 49 — but the actual number of titles remains only 23.
For a university where an undergraduate degree typically requires at least 48 core textbooks, the centre’s total collection cannot support even one student’s full degree, let alone the dozens enrolled.
According to VIRC data, at least 38 visually impaired students studied across 18 departments between 2019–20 and 2023–24. But the centre’s outdated and tiny collection means students are largely left to fend for themselves. Data for the 2024–25 academic year has not yet been updated — a further sign, students say, of the administration’s indifference.
Departmental seminar libraries are no better. TIMES of Bangladesh spoke to at least 11 of those 18 departmental librarians who admitted they have no academic Braille books at all.
‘A resource centre in name only’
Students say the centre has drifted into abandonment, with inadequate staffing, virtually no new book purchases for years, and little effort to update or expand materials. Several of the centre’s five laptops provided for students have not even been unboxed.
“Our classmates can borrow whatever they want from the library, but we have no alternatives,” said Md Robin Khan, a visually impaired student from the Institute of Social Welfare and Research. “We rely on PDF lecture slides, which don’t give a full understanding. Everyone is evaluated the same way, but when the resources are unequal, how fair is this?”
Md Mojibur Rahman, the principal disability affairs officer, confirmed the book count but argued that students “rarely come”.
Top librarian unaware of the crisis
In a surprising revelation, Dhaka University acting librarian and full professor Kazi Mostak Gausul Hoq acknowledged he was unaware that the VIRC’s collection consisted of only 23 books.
“I admit the number is low,” he said, “but students need to come and tell us.”
Asked about the shortage, chief librarian Hoq blamed lack of physical space. “No books have been purchased for a long time,” he said. “We plan to expand the centre, and once expanded, new books will be bought.”
But students remain sceptical. Until concrete reforms materialise, they say, visually impaired students at the country’s flagship university will continue navigating their academic lives with a fraction of the resources available to their peers.
Policy vacuum cited as root cause
Experts say the problem goes far beyond books. Md Shahrier Haider, a professor of Department of Special Education described the university’s treatment of visually impaired students as part of a “pattern of systemic neglect”.
“Whenever issues like food, security or accommodation arise, the administration promises action. But the needs of disabled students are consistently ignored,” he said. Training in screen-reading software and accessibility technologies could solve many classroom barriers, he added, but no such initiative exists.
VIRC provides Braille paper free of cost — each sheet worth about Taka 9 — and operates an expensive Braille conversion machine costing up to Taka 12 lakh. But students and experts describe these as isolated measures that fail to address the structural problem: Dhaka University has no policy for visually impaired learners.
