Young Voices

Traffic and Our Students

Pradip Das

Students are the future leaders of a country, their eyes filled with dreams awaiting changes. It is their dream to be a part of their country and its development. Behind any revolution, they play the most vital role and the contribution of our students during the Liberation War is one such instance.

It is painful to note that with the passage of time, the situation is changing. We often encounter in newspapers, shocking news of a student killing his girl friend, a group of students attacking their rival group and many more.

Students and faculty members form a chain to voice their concern with road accidents. courtesy : Bangladesh Health Professions Institute

Road accident, a burning issue in our country, is one of the concerns amongst students, for a major number of road accident victims happen to be students. The loss of Samrat of BUET and Hamim Sheikh, a student of class 5 are evidences for one to strongly claim that road accident is one of the reasons of insecurity that often drive our students to study abroad. Although it is a solution only for those who can afford to study abroad, a permanent solution should be thought of for the ones who plan to remain in the country. The traffic system is analogous to the human circulatory system. Blood flows in our bodies from the heart through arteries and to the heart through veins. If the flow is somehow hindered, fatal damages may occur. In the same way, if the traffic system does not run smoothly, disaster is bound to happen.

At the Bangladesh Health Professions Institute, students have realised the gravity of traffic issue and accepted the challenge. They have formed CRP-Road Safety Forum, the main concern of which is to fight against road accidents. On April 13, 2011, they arranged a debate competition on the topic“Drivers and their helpers are responsible for road traffic accidents”. Both the ally and opponent teams performed brilliantly. I believe, for the first time in our country, a debate competition was held on this issue. Professor Dr. M. A. Quader, Principal of Bangladesh Health Professions Institute inaugurated and chaired the programme, while Md.Waliul Islam, Advocacy and Networking Officer of CRP coordinated the programme. Md. Julker Nayan, Coordinator of the Department of Occupational Therapy, Md. Nasirul Islam, Assistant Professor of Physiotherapy and Md. Jahangir Alam, Coordinator of the Department of Speech and Language Therapy were judges at the competition. At the end of the programme, certificates were distributed among the participants. Masud Rana, Faruq Ahmed, ATM Thouhid and Nazmul Hasan along with all other students who were associated with Road Safety Forum were appreciated for their initiative. We the general citizens envision a sound traffic system in our country.

(The writer is a Lecturer in English and Secretary of Road Safety Forum BHPI, CRP.)