Research and our universities
Today’s university is featured and marked by teachers’ negligible or not at all involvement in research and more involvement in teacher politics. Involvement in politics gives the teachers more and quick benefit whereas research hardly gives them any benefit. So, teachers flock tighter to vie with each other for supporting a particular party. This active involvement in party politics seriously undermines the quality of teaching and encourages the future teachers to get more attachment to politics than research. A university teacher himself/herself is an institution. That very institution gradually flourishes with the research and deep study. Teachers are now found either to grease the government or the opposition leaders. The present day student politics vitiates the campus situation which has engulfed the whole nation and the adverse effect affects all of us. Student politics also takes breath and oxygen from teacher politics in universities. It is very shameful for the nation that students don’t enjoy impartial behavior from the teachers seriously undermining the real objective of education. It makes the nation stand on the verge of ruin.
According to a report of the UGC 20 of the 51private universities do not have any allocation for research-based activities, which would help set standards of the institutions. UGC chairman Prof. Nazrul Islam termed this a “Serious operational flaw “of these universities. The research-oriented expenditure of the rest 31 universities is also quite insignificant. Pointing out that there is no alternative to research programs for making progress, the UGC Chairman said the Commission inserted a new provision in the private University Act 2010 making compulsory spending on research. Interestingly, a section of private university teachers do not think research is necessary for higher education.” Higher education does not depend on research “says Royal University Vice-Chancellor Prof. Nurul Alam Khan. “ Our students study their text books in line with the syllabus. Research is not much essential said the same VC who received his Ph.D in Mathematics from Charles University of Republic. A 2009 survey of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics revealed that the private universities, colleges and English medium schools in the country made a profit of Tk 4.23 billion in a decade mainly from fees for tuition, admission, session, development and extra-curricular activities. The annual expenditure of private universities raised Tk 11.62 billion in 20009 from Tk 7.32 billion of 2008. The 31 private universities spent some Tk 0.19 billion in 2009 for research purpose ( daily sun 31 January 2011) which means each of the university spent average Tk 6million.
January last week I visited Sylhet to visit several secondary schools and participated in ‘ English Week’ which is an innovative approach of BRAC Education Program ( BEP) to remove the shyness of the students to learn and use English in their practical life situation. I could not resist my temptation to visit’ Shahjalal Science and Technology University’ where several of my friends work as teachers. I did not miss the opportunity to meet and see for myself Dr. Kabir Hossain who holds the position of Vice Chancellor of Leading University, Sylhet ( Private University) .He actually teaches Statistics at SUST. Meeting me after a long time he was beside himself with joy even though he was awfully busy. My another friend Dr. Aktaruzzamn who is the General Manager of Bangladesh Bank early in the morning reminded me over cell phone not to miss the opportunity to meet Kabir ( Our VC dost as he said ) and see the Leading University how it actually works. Dr. Aktar happened to be the associate professor of Economics at Rajshahi University before joining Bangladesh Bank and so he stills shows interest in the activities of universities. Immediately I seized the opportunity. As I was busy all day long, I met my former colleague Dr. Suresh Ranjan Basak who teaches English at Metropolitan University (another private university at Sylhet) at night. Both the VC of Leading University and Professor of English of Metropolitan University Dr. Suresh Ranjan Basak took me to different faculties and classes which further gave me insight into the atmosphere of private universities. This is the strength of private university to hold classes at night to extend the facilities of higher education for the service holders and businessmen who usually remain busy at day time. Classrooms are modern and modern equipments are installed in the classrooms. Interactions between the teachers and students seem to be closer than public universities. Teachers have accountability to the authorities as well as to the students. Students assess the performance of the teachers which matches the developed countries university system. Our public universities in spite of having many opportunities don’t have these options.
Private universities are the realities of the time. It has not evolved automatically rather through some hard realistic facts. Private universities have widened the opportunities for higher education those who could not qualify for enrolment in public universities but possess the means to look for alternatives. Private universities stick to academic schedule and permit no ‘session jam.’ ‘Students will have to come out from air conditioned classrooms of their universities to acquire practical knowledge to realize the lives of common people and know about their happiness and sorrow.” President Zillur Rahman said in the 11the Convocation of AIUB. We appreciate this invitation but side by side we need to give attention to the fact that these students have some apathy towards state run universities where pupils study are to pay a negligible amount of tuition fees and enjoy state-run dormitory facilities. But private university students are to buy their education at an exorbitant rate with almost no dormitory facilities. They are deprived of open space and open play ground and big library facilities.
In public universities a teacher in most of the cases teaches a particular topic year after year keeping him confined to a small area of knowledge dissemination which stands contrary to the purpose of higher educational institutions. One of my colleagues one day told me that the private universities don’t teach subjects like literature, history, economics, pure science which really registers a serious flaw of the private universities. Without learning these subjects, humanity can be learnt and real taste of studying science stands far apart. The editorial of daily sun of its February 6, 2011 issues rightly says that only market related subjects such as BBA, MBA, Management , Hotel Management etc. are taught in private universities. The same editorial places a question like this, ‘Can proficiency in these subjects be called higher education and can an institution which teaches merely these subjects be called a university?” This question leaves enough room for the policy makers and educationists of the country to give a serious second thought in connection with the standard of private universities of the country. About two lakh pupils receive education in our private universities and half of the learners study under the faculty of business administration. Of course, private universities must think of commercial aspects which foster the idea of producing BBA students. With the passage of time education problems are getting manifested in various forms which call for serous research and pupils also must be made research orientated otherwise their analytical capabilities will hardly develop to serve the broader field of the nation after coming out of the university. Teachers’ involvement in the politics cannot be discouraged but more involvement in research is needed as private universities are catering to the demand of a large population who were out of the reach of higher education or abandoned the hope to receive higher education. Moreover, some private universities are producing high quality students with necessary competencies. Allocating more funds for research and encouraging the teachers to conduct research will add new values to the private universities.
Md. Masum Billah
Program Manager: BRAC Education Program
Cell: 01714-091431
Email: mmbillah2000@yahoo.com
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Nepal gets a new PM after long power vacuum
Nepal gets a new PM after long power vacuum
Nepal has witnessed leadership vacuum for seven months hampering country’s stalled peace process. However, on February 04, 2011 it got a new Prime Minister named Jhala Nath Khanal, the chief of a moderate communist party, Unified Marxist Leninist (UML). He was elevated to the post after 16 rounds of voting. Mr Khanal, 60, is a veteran politician who was involved in the pro-democracy protests against the monarchy in 1990 and again in 2006.The Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) backed him last moment. He will have to face the challenges of some 19,000 Maoist combatants and drawing up a new constitution. Political analysts comment that the new coalition threatens to cause a left-leaning polarization and an escalation of ambitions of the Maoists. The previous government was backed by the moderate Nepali Congress party and several ethnic parties. They hardly responded to Maoist demands such as radical land reforms, subservience of the judiciary to the legislature, and a constitutional provision of banning "antinationalist’" political parties.
It is known to us that Nepal has been gripped by power struggle since 2008 when a special assembly was elected. Mr. Acharya, the lawyer, terms that surprise coalition announcement unnatural. “It was just an expression of anger and frustration of the Maoists. After being unable to gather support for getting elected himself, Maoist chairman Prachanda wanted to teach India a lesson by elevating someone not favored by India to power,” Prachanda admitted while addressing the parliament on February 03 that he had decided to withdraw his own candidacy and support Khanal to prove that Nepal can make its own decisions, a clear reference to Indian influence in Nepal’s politics. Khanal's UML party leadership is dominated by liberal communists who do not want to promote the Maoist agenda. So, Khanal will have to face the twin challenges of tempering the liberals in his own party and continuing to get support of the Maoist party. Narayan Wagle, editor-in-chief of Nagarik, a leading Nepali daily commented “The success of the new government will depend on whether the Maoists use Mr. Khanal as their puppet," he wrote, "or help him complete the peace process and constitution writing.” Whereas President Ram Baran Yadav expressed his reaction by thanking the Maoists for helping end the political stalemate and hoped that the ultra-left extremists in India too would realize that democratic path is the best.
The 63-year-old leader, who recalled the difficult period Nepal had undergone in the past, sought the support of the international community, particularly India and also said that his country needs the "blessings of the Indian people to go through the process."I also hope that the peace process will speed up and we will soon have a new Constitution," he said, while expressing his happiness over the election of a prime minister. Under Nepalese law, a candidate must get a simple majority of votes polled in the parliament to become the Prime Minister, in this case at least 301 of the 599 votes polled. The deal reached with the Maoist ensured that Khanal crossed the hurdle easily by securing 368 of the 597 votes cast. Of Khanal’s 368 votes in favor of his candidacy, some 350 votes came from the Constituent Assembly (CA) members belonging to the two aligned communist parties and remaining votes from the left-leaning smaller parties. Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) led by Upendra Yadav with 25 votes abstained from voting despite its long-term association with the UCPN (Maoist) which amounted to a lost opportunity for this party but it is expected to backup Khanal-led government and formally become a coalition partner, giving the coalition an honorable close to 400-seat strength in the 601-seat parliament of Nepal.
Nepali Congress (NC) candidate Ram Chandra Poudel received 122 notes and Bijay Kumar Gachchhdar of MJF-Madhesi Front 67 seats, for a total of just under 200 for the two opposing candidates. Of the 44 votes not cast owing to abstentions and boycotts, at least two-thirds of this number, including most of 25 members from Upendra Yadav’s MJF would finally get aligned with government coalition, while others would support NC in the opposition. These figures show roughly two thirds/one third split of the total 601 CA votes divided up between left-wing and right-wing parties. After traveling a topsy- turvy parth probably Nepal’s democracy has arrived but the wise course for Khanal coalition and left-party alliance would be to come up with concrete proposals that focuses on the economy and improves public facilities in areas where government failure has been most visible and persistent. The main pillar of success for new government will be to establish a different identity in terms of how the government relates to the rest of the society which generally has been antagonistic and adversarial. The general population feels harassed by such experiences almost every day. If the Khanal government succeeds in making even a little success in making the government machinery work for the people, it will be considered as an achievement of his government. So, he should be cautious enough in dealing with the whole affair.
Nepal experiences acute shortage of drinking water particularly by the Valley residents. It suffers from power shortage as well. He will have to try very cleverly to address these issues. In the short-term, there are very few options to addressing these problems. For power shortage, other than urging India to sell more electricity to Nepal at a concessional rate and even accessing Bhutan facilities for power purchase, there are no other options. His government will face another problem to deal with its business with India. The Khanal government and its supporters, especially the Maoists, must give India the benefit of doubt, that it wants Nepal to be peaceful and prosperous and, of course, to remain democratic. If the Khanal Government can secure India’s confidence that it commits to be mindful of India’s interests in carrying out its business, his government will not get embroiled with acute problems.
Nepal has been without a functioning government since last June, when former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal announced his resignation. The CPN-UML was involved in the coalition which formed that government. A caretaker government with limited constitutional powers has been running the country since then, delaying the drafting of a new constitution and the conclusion of the peace process that ended the country's civil war. Nepal's fragile peace process began in 2005 after the Maoists ended their armed revolt and entered mainstream politics. A 2006 peace deal ended the war between the Maoists and the then royal government, in which more than 16,000 people were killed. The Maoists won parliamentary elections in 2008 and the 239-year old monarchy was later abolished.
It is hoped that Khanal’s new administration will be able to move forward on the two key issues that have held up the country's long-running peace process. He will have to decide whether more than 19,000 former Maoists fighters to be included in the regular armed forces and the completion of a new democratic constitution. In his oath taking ceremony he has already announced the fate of the Maoist fighters which has been a major unresolved issue. Probably Nepal is advancing towards progress and stability under Khanal’s leadership.
Nepal has witnessed leadership vacuum for seven months hampering country’s stalled peace process. However, on February 04, 2011 it got a new Prime Minister named Jhala Nath Khanal, the chief of a moderate communist party, Unified Marxist Leninist (UML). He was elevated to the post after 16 rounds of voting. Mr Khanal, 60, is a veteran politician who was involved in the pro-democracy protests against the monarchy in 1990 and again in 2006.The Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) backed him last moment. He will have to face the challenges of some 19,000 Maoist combatants and drawing up a new constitution. Political analysts comment that the new coalition threatens to cause a left-leaning polarization and an escalation of ambitions of the Maoists. The previous government was backed by the moderate Nepali Congress party and several ethnic parties. They hardly responded to Maoist demands such as radical land reforms, subservience of the judiciary to the legislature, and a constitutional provision of banning "antinationalist’" political parties.
It is known to us that Nepal has been gripped by power struggle since 2008 when a special assembly was elected. Mr. Acharya, the lawyer, terms that surprise coalition announcement unnatural. “It was just an expression of anger and frustration of the Maoists. After being unable to gather support for getting elected himself, Maoist chairman Prachanda wanted to teach India a lesson by elevating someone not favored by India to power,” Prachanda admitted while addressing the parliament on February 03 that he had decided to withdraw his own candidacy and support Khanal to prove that Nepal can make its own decisions, a clear reference to Indian influence in Nepal’s politics. Khanal's UML party leadership is dominated by liberal communists who do not want to promote the Maoist agenda. So, Khanal will have to face the twin challenges of tempering the liberals in his own party and continuing to get support of the Maoist party. Narayan Wagle, editor-in-chief of Nagarik, a leading Nepali daily commented “The success of the new government will depend on whether the Maoists use Mr. Khanal as their puppet," he wrote, "or help him complete the peace process and constitution writing.” Whereas President Ram Baran Yadav expressed his reaction by thanking the Maoists for helping end the political stalemate and hoped that the ultra-left extremists in India too would realize that democratic path is the best.
The 63-year-old leader, who recalled the difficult period Nepal had undergone in the past, sought the support of the international community, particularly India and also said that his country needs the "blessings of the Indian people to go through the process."I also hope that the peace process will speed up and we will soon have a new Constitution," he said, while expressing his happiness over the election of a prime minister. Under Nepalese law, a candidate must get a simple majority of votes polled in the parliament to become the Prime Minister, in this case at least 301 of the 599 votes polled. The deal reached with the Maoist ensured that Khanal crossed the hurdle easily by securing 368 of the 597 votes cast. Of Khanal’s 368 votes in favor of his candidacy, some 350 votes came from the Constituent Assembly (CA) members belonging to the two aligned communist parties and remaining votes from the left-leaning smaller parties. Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) led by Upendra Yadav with 25 votes abstained from voting despite its long-term association with the UCPN (Maoist) which amounted to a lost opportunity for this party but it is expected to backup Khanal-led government and formally become a coalition partner, giving the coalition an honorable close to 400-seat strength in the 601-seat parliament of Nepal.
Nepali Congress (NC) candidate Ram Chandra Poudel received 122 notes and Bijay Kumar Gachchhdar of MJF-Madhesi Front 67 seats, for a total of just under 200 for the two opposing candidates. Of the 44 votes not cast owing to abstentions and boycotts, at least two-thirds of this number, including most of 25 members from Upendra Yadav’s MJF would finally get aligned with government coalition, while others would support NC in the opposition. These figures show roughly two thirds/one third split of the total 601 CA votes divided up between left-wing and right-wing parties. After traveling a topsy- turvy parth probably Nepal’s democracy has arrived but the wise course for Khanal coalition and left-party alliance would be to come up with concrete proposals that focuses on the economy and improves public facilities in areas where government failure has been most visible and persistent. The main pillar of success for new government will be to establish a different identity in terms of how the government relates to the rest of the society which generally has been antagonistic and adversarial. The general population feels harassed by such experiences almost every day. If the Khanal government succeeds in making even a little success in making the government machinery work for the people, it will be considered as an achievement of his government. So, he should be cautious enough in dealing with the whole affair.
Nepal experiences acute shortage of drinking water particularly by the Valley residents. It suffers from power shortage as well. He will have to try very cleverly to address these issues. In the short-term, there are very few options to addressing these problems. For power shortage, other than urging India to sell more electricity to Nepal at a concessional rate and even accessing Bhutan facilities for power purchase, there are no other options. His government will face another problem to deal with its business with India. The Khanal government and its supporters, especially the Maoists, must give India the benefit of doubt, that it wants Nepal to be peaceful and prosperous and, of course, to remain democratic. If the Khanal Government can secure India’s confidence that it commits to be mindful of India’s interests in carrying out its business, his government will not get embroiled with acute problems.
Nepal has been without a functioning government since last June, when former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal announced his resignation. The CPN-UML was involved in the coalition which formed that government. A caretaker government with limited constitutional powers has been running the country since then, delaying the drafting of a new constitution and the conclusion of the peace process that ended the country's civil war. Nepal's fragile peace process began in 2005 after the Maoists ended their armed revolt and entered mainstream politics. A 2006 peace deal ended the war between the Maoists and the then royal government, in which more than 16,000 people were killed. The Maoists won parliamentary elections in 2008 and the 239-year old monarchy was later abolished.
It is hoped that Khanal’s new administration will be able to move forward on the two key issues that have held up the country's long-running peace process. He will have to decide whether more than 19,000 former Maoists fighters to be included in the regular armed forces and the completion of a new democratic constitution. In his oath taking ceremony he has already announced the fate of the Maoist fighters which has been a major unresolved issue. Probably Nepal is advancing towards progress and stability under Khanal’s leadership.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
English Newspapers can carry Education Materials
English Newspapers can carry rich Education materials
The status of English newspapers in Bangladesh does not seem to be encouraging. The number of English newspaper readers has not increased proportionately though English has already received significant attention from all the relevant corners. English is taught as a compulsory subject up to intermediate level. About twelve lakh students study in the secondary and higher secondary levels. English newspapers still don’t; have any specialized room for this huge number of students. These students study English, sit for examinations and have to pass in English. But they gain very poor communication skills. Their syllabus, environment, way of teaching, dearth of qualified teachers can be attributed to this cause. English newspapers can play a very commendable role in this field. Still no English newspaper has come up with pragmatic step to address this situation I mean to help the students of secondary and higher secondary level learners. The New Nation has just started a page dedicated to the students once a week which seems far less than the usual demand. The Daily Star has dedicated a page which comes out on every Monday which is getting distributed among one thousand schools free of cost and prints some education materials highlighting the syllabus. Still some flaws appear here. The real practicing teachers or the people having teaching background or the organizations working directly for the development of secondary and higher secondary levels are not involved with the process. Here I want mention that PACE program of BRAC Education Program ( BEP) stands for Post- Primary basic And Continuing Education Program has been working for the overall development of secondary level education since 2002 along with the government. Its principal features are it works mainly for the rural secondary schools and offers training to the English, Mathematics and Science Teachers and Mentoring training for the students of grade six to nine. Presently this program works in three thousand secondary schools and is planning to work in the higher secondary level from the coming July as higher secondary level is going to be included in the secondary level education according to the new education policy of the government. The people working in this education program of BRAC I mean PACE Program have direct teaching and training background. They still conduct practice teaching in the secondary level schools to show the practicing teachers how to deal with large classrooms and make the teaching more effective, interesting and interactive. Only foreign experts, university teachers and traditional teachers may not bring any desired results in this connection. So, the people who directly deal with secondary school affairs and , maintain regular follow up and conduct research on it may contribute a great deal if English newspaper authorities involve them in doing something for the learners of these two levels.
The contributors of newspapers find themselves in an ignoble situation. They really help a newspaper to present a rich and healthy scene by their professional expertise, urge, sincerity, devotion, honesty. Definitely they contribute a lot to enrich the get up and overall development of the paper. Their multifarious ideas and articles, letters and opinions get published to draw various kinds of readers leading to the newspapers commercially viable. Only the newspapermen cannot bring change or innovations. It is unfortunate that the contributors are hardly counted by some English newspapers with some possible exceptions. It was a time when contributors were honoured with remuneration sent to their address . Now that tradition has died out. Of course, the electronic media has paled the print media into significance. Even some newspapers don’t bother about them let alone showing them courtesy. What happens if English newspapers arrange a tea-party or short meeting with the contributors? The contributors will feel encouraged when it is done. The ultimate objective of newspapers is to enlighten a society by correcting the follies and vices of the society. In doing so, the concerted efforts of the procession of writers need to be recognized and encouraged. English newspapers can still reach the sky by virtue of their innovations, sincerity, neutrality, quality and other related factors of journalism. But some English newspapers don’ show any interest to offer a genuine and social service to surpass the towering height of popularity of some Bengali newspapers. Now time has come to review the whole situation and English newspapers must come up with new ideas to really cater to the needs of the society. We are ready to stand beside them.
It is really astonishing that some English newspapers don’t bother about the innovations and clean and beautiful presentation to attract more readers. It is not healthy for a society that only one or two newspapers will dominate the whole society dwarfing the others. Only one or two newspapers cannot make room for rising number of promising writers whose ideas, opinions and suggestions can bring many positive changes in the society. They give solutions to many social, political and economic problems of the country. But these valuable phenomena don’t see the light and cannot reach the readers as only one or two newspapers cannot bear all these messages to the readers. Other English newspapers don’t try at all to make their papers attractive and eye-catching. Yes, financially it may not be viable first. But business calls for investment first and good investment brings good profit and business. Of recent one or two English newspapers have coloured their pages but with poor messages.
Village English teachers don’t have easy access to English newspapers. I deal with about two hundred English trainers developed from rural schools and several thousand English teachers of rural secondary schools. Out of many suggestions and requests, I suggest them to read English newspapers regularly to improve their English. Their common answer surprises me that they don’t find English newspapers in their localities. Managing it from the hawkers is also not easy. I would request the newspaper industry to ensure the easy availability of English newspapers in our rural areas which are neglected in various ways. Learning English has become a necessity of the day but only the textual matters and non-trained teachers cannot make it practical and possible. These gaps can be filled in by English newspapers. Now time has come to prove that English newspapers don’t carry only news but also rich education materials.
Md. Masum Billah
Program Manager: BRAC Education Programme, PACE
The status of English newspapers in Bangladesh does not seem to be encouraging. The number of English newspaper readers has not increased proportionately though English has already received significant attention from all the relevant corners. English is taught as a compulsory subject up to intermediate level. About twelve lakh students study in the secondary and higher secondary levels. English newspapers still don’t; have any specialized room for this huge number of students. These students study English, sit for examinations and have to pass in English. But they gain very poor communication skills. Their syllabus, environment, way of teaching, dearth of qualified teachers can be attributed to this cause. English newspapers can play a very commendable role in this field. Still no English newspaper has come up with pragmatic step to address this situation I mean to help the students of secondary and higher secondary level learners. The New Nation has just started a page dedicated to the students once a week which seems far less than the usual demand. The Daily Star has dedicated a page which comes out on every Monday which is getting distributed among one thousand schools free of cost and prints some education materials highlighting the syllabus. Still some flaws appear here. The real practicing teachers or the people having teaching background or the organizations working directly for the development of secondary and higher secondary levels are not involved with the process. Here I want mention that PACE program of BRAC Education Program ( BEP) stands for Post- Primary basic And Continuing Education Program has been working for the overall development of secondary level education since 2002 along with the government. Its principal features are it works mainly for the rural secondary schools and offers training to the English, Mathematics and Science Teachers and Mentoring training for the students of grade six to nine. Presently this program works in three thousand secondary schools and is planning to work in the higher secondary level from the coming July as higher secondary level is going to be included in the secondary level education according to the new education policy of the government. The people working in this education program of BRAC I mean PACE Program have direct teaching and training background. They still conduct practice teaching in the secondary level schools to show the practicing teachers how to deal with large classrooms and make the teaching more effective, interesting and interactive. Only foreign experts, university teachers and traditional teachers may not bring any desired results in this connection. So, the people who directly deal with secondary school affairs and , maintain regular follow up and conduct research on it may contribute a great deal if English newspaper authorities involve them in doing something for the learners of these two levels.
The contributors of newspapers find themselves in an ignoble situation. They really help a newspaper to present a rich and healthy scene by their professional expertise, urge, sincerity, devotion, honesty. Definitely they contribute a lot to enrich the get up and overall development of the paper. Their multifarious ideas and articles, letters and opinions get published to draw various kinds of readers leading to the newspapers commercially viable. Only the newspapermen cannot bring change or innovations. It is unfortunate that the contributors are hardly counted by some English newspapers with some possible exceptions. It was a time when contributors were honoured with remuneration sent to their address . Now that tradition has died out. Of course, the electronic media has paled the print media into significance. Even some newspapers don’t bother about them let alone showing them courtesy. What happens if English newspapers arrange a tea-party or short meeting with the contributors? The contributors will feel encouraged when it is done. The ultimate objective of newspapers is to enlighten a society by correcting the follies and vices of the society. In doing so, the concerted efforts of the procession of writers need to be recognized and encouraged. English newspapers can still reach the sky by virtue of their innovations, sincerity, neutrality, quality and other related factors of journalism. But some English newspapers don’ show any interest to offer a genuine and social service to surpass the towering height of popularity of some Bengali newspapers. Now time has come to review the whole situation and English newspapers must come up with new ideas to really cater to the needs of the society. We are ready to stand beside them.
It is really astonishing that some English newspapers don’t bother about the innovations and clean and beautiful presentation to attract more readers. It is not healthy for a society that only one or two newspapers will dominate the whole society dwarfing the others. Only one or two newspapers cannot make room for rising number of promising writers whose ideas, opinions and suggestions can bring many positive changes in the society. They give solutions to many social, political and economic problems of the country. But these valuable phenomena don’t see the light and cannot reach the readers as only one or two newspapers cannot bear all these messages to the readers. Other English newspapers don’t try at all to make their papers attractive and eye-catching. Yes, financially it may not be viable first. But business calls for investment first and good investment brings good profit and business. Of recent one or two English newspapers have coloured their pages but with poor messages.
Village English teachers don’t have easy access to English newspapers. I deal with about two hundred English trainers developed from rural schools and several thousand English teachers of rural secondary schools. Out of many suggestions and requests, I suggest them to read English newspapers regularly to improve their English. Their common answer surprises me that they don’t find English newspapers in their localities. Managing it from the hawkers is also not easy. I would request the newspaper industry to ensure the easy availability of English newspapers in our rural areas which are neglected in various ways. Learning English has become a necessity of the day but only the textual matters and non-trained teachers cannot make it practical and possible. These gaps can be filled in by English newspapers. Now time has come to prove that English newspapers don’t carry only news but also rich education materials.
Md. Masum Billah
Program Manager: BRAC Education Programme, PACE
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