We're worried about the instances of plagiarism which appear to be on the rise in the country's universities. After three Dhaka University teachers were demoted over plagiarism in their research papers four months ago, followed by reports of another two teachers of the same university whose research contract with a non-profit organisation had been revoked following charges of plagiarism, another instance of academic theft has been reported by The Daily Star. This time, it has been allegedly committed by two assistant professors of Pabna University of Science and Technology (PUST), who apparently copied almost an entire chapter of a book in a paper they co-authored and published last month. If these unsavoury revelations are indicative of what's to come in the future, it should certainly worry the education authorities.

There is no reason to believe this is a new trend, however. While there are no hard stats on the number of teachers or students copying from others' work, it is assumed that plagiarism is rife in our academia, although it is rarely acknowledged. The question is, how can we expect academic originality when the general focus across the academic spectrum is on memorisation-based learning and assessment? Unfortunately, in this age of internet and easy availability of research materials, it has never been easier to plagiarise or paraphrase without proper citation. The silver lining is, it has never been easier to check such unethical activities either, because of the availability of digital plagiarism checkers. Universities and research institutions across the world are devising new ways to check and stop plagiarism and inspiring researchers to follow proper methods of citation.

Why aren't we? After the disclosure of the latest case of plagiarism, a member of the University Grants Commission (UGC) admitted that incidents of plagiarism have indeed increased in our universities. But there is no UGC policy to prevent and penalise it. There is not even any central guideline as to what constitutes plagiarism. The absence of such basic safeguards is emboldening potential wrongdoers and indicates the overall lack of concern about original thought and research, which is so essential for the development of a country like Bangladesh. While the news that the UGC is going to purchase well-known plagiarism-checking software Turnitin—which will be initially provided to 30 public universities and the rest in phases—is uplifting, it will not have much of an effect unless there is a central policy in this regard. Also, the universities themselves should be more proactive in ensuring no such incidents take place and inspire their teachers and students to maintain academic ethics and integrity.