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