Feature

'NO' to dhormoghot

Amanat Ahmed

Imagine yourself in this situation. You have started from your home for a job interview half an hour ahead of time. It takes hardly 20 minutes to reach your destination and you have 10 minutes in your hand to be on the safe side. It is your first job interview. Unfortunately an accident occurred in your route and you were stuck in the road for more than an hour. Consequence: You could not attend the interview. You have to wait for the next interview to be called and till then you are stuck. Your worries keep on mounting.

With hartals, oborodhs and chhatra dhormoghots, the DU students' life has become like the scenario mentioned above. The DU students cannot continue their classes and exams because of the recent student strikes.

Whatever the reason for the strike, it is becoming harmful for the students and making them frustrated. “My HSC year mate has already graduated from IUT and is doing a full-time job in Grameen Phone.” said Ashfaque, a student of the Microbiology department. “Whereas I haven't finished my third year yet.” he continued. The strike has caused exams to be postponed. The fourth year final examination of the Economics department and the third year final examination of Pharmacy department were stoped thanks to the strike. “Just let us appear in the examination and finish our studies.” said Prince, a third year Pharmacy student. The scheduled third year final examination of the Microbiology department cannot take place either. “We have successfully finished the 6th semester final examination, but our classes in the new semester cannot be held swing because of this strike. It's so frustrating.” said Shomela, a student of the department of Accounting & Information Systems.

Because of these unwanted impediments it usually takes much longer to complete graduation and/or post-graduation. For this very reason prospective students become discouraged and give it a second thought before enrolling here.

Isn't there any way out? Isn't there anything that can be done to reinstate its glory? The answer is, “Where there is a will, there is a way.” There are some departmental initiatives to cut down the session jam. In the Faculty of Business Studies, the last summer Vacation was used to make up for lost time. The fourth year final examination of the Economics department was taking place on Fridays. In the department of AIS, the 8th semester final examination is scheduled to take place on Fridays. The students were also asked to do their internship simultaneously.

But, it is turning out not to be adequate. So in the end, it is the student leaders who should understand and come forward in resolving the problem. Before enforcing anything, they should see things from the general students' view, not the established political point of view. They must not engage in activities that hinder the normal flow of their education.

Dear student leaders, you are our representatives. You should help us in maintaining a sound environment for education, not destroying it with your politically linked programme. You must understand that as a student our first and foremost duty is to study and study hard. Hampering studies is unacceptable by all means. Let's say 'No' to strike, l that harms our career. Let's step forward to revive the past glory of Dhaka University.

(The writer is the student of 9th batch, Dept of Accounting & Information Systems, DU)

Nazia Ahmed

The slogan “Amra Bangladesh” on a wristband was the first step Project Bangladesh undertook and it gained huge Support from the public. Then it came up with yet another exciting initiative for a contest to promote business ideas along with community services for youth development, initially known as The D-youth project. The project started two months ago. This contest will mainly focus on providing an opportunity for the students irrespective of their age, to enhance their extracurricular skills along with the concept of community service. Project Bangladesh and Grameen Phone's Youth Brand D-juice, working as strategic partners, jointly initiated this project.

This contest, the first of its kind in the country, is an incorporation of the popular reality show The Apprentice, where teams compete against each other to come up with the most innovative and effective business scheme. Only here there is the added twist of promoting community services in the country through a form of competition. The main qualification for the members to enter the contest is that they have to be students be it of any age. The contest kicked off with 773 teams competing against each other with 2-10 members in each team. Only 100 teams went on for the second round. 37 teams made it to the interview, and of these 20 were selected. Project BD and D-juice have been in the judging panel right from the inception of the contest.

The teams will submit ideas and implementation plans with a community service objective. The funds raised by the projects will be donated to different charities. Based on the monitoring of their possible output of the objectives, time efficiency, business plan etc the best team will be adjudged the Champion. The final two teams will be organizing a Djuice event and the winning team will be the Brand Ambassador of Djuice.

"Some of the ideas the teams came up with so far were remarkable. A board game named Chetona 71, was an incarnated form of our historical liberation war, where the board was fashioned after the sector layout during the liberation war of Bangladesh. Another good idea was the birth registration plan which if implemented properly would be very effective," said Sazidul Islam, Brand development and management officer of Djuice.

Organizations like the Liberation war museum and Standard Chartered Bank are keen about the concept of youth development, which is why they are also interested in supporting the teams of Project D-youth.

This week the teams have already started off with their new scheme, which is dedicated to ASF (Acid Survivors Foundation). The money raised will be donated to ASF.