Abul Kalam Sarker of the Department of Persian Language and Literature at the University of Dhaka has been appointed as the acting dean of the Faculty of Arts.
He has been given the responsibility following the appointment of the previous Acting Dean, Mohammad Siddiqur Rahman Khan, as the vice-chancellor of Bangladesh Open University, according to a press statement.
The information was confirmed through a letter signed by the Acting Registrar of the university, Munshi Shams Uddin Ahmad, on Tuesday.
According to the letter, under Article 17(2) of the First Statute of the Dhaka University Order, 1973, the Vice-Chancellor has appointed Dr. Sarker as Acting Dean for a period starting from March 18 for a maximum of 90 days or until a newly elected Dean assumes office – whichever occurs earlier.
Abul Kalam Sarker completed his BA (Honours) in Persian Language and Literature in 1999 and MA in 2000 from the Department of Persian and Urdu at the University of Dhaka, securing first class first position in both examinations. For achieving the highest marks among students of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences in his BA (Honours), he received the Attorney Almgir Gold Medal, and for securing first position in the Faculty of Arts, he was awarded a scholarship from the University Grants Commission. He also received the Dr. Abeda Hafiz Gold Medal for his outstanding results in the MA examination.
He joined the then Department of Persian and Urdu at the University of Dhaka as a Lecturer in 2004 and is currently serving as a Professor in the Department of Persian Language and Literature.
Dr Sarker obtained his PhD degree in 2011 from the University of Dhaka with a dissertation titled “Persian Literary Practice in Bengali Translation (1971–2005)”. In 2012, he completed an advanced course in Persian language at Imam Khomeini International University under a scholarship from the Government of Iran.
His book “Bangladeshe Farsi Onubad Sahitya 1971–2005”, published by the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, was selected as the best research work by the Faculty of Arts of the University of Dhaka, earning him the ‘Dean’s Academic Award for Teachers’ in 2018. He served as Chairman of the Department of Persian Language and Literature from 2018 to 2020.
Dr Sarker has presented research papers at more than 50 international seminars held in different countries. So far, he has published 53 research articles in national and international journals.
His Persian language learning book “Game Awwal” was published by Iran’s Saadi Foundation. Another of his works, “Tangshekar Dar Bangladesh”, was published under a Memorandum of Understanding between Allameh Tabataba’i University of Iran and the University of Dhaka. This book was recognized as the best research publication in the foreign category by the Faculty of Arts of Dhaka University, for which he received the ‘Dean’s Academic Award for Teachers’ in 2025.
