Inside
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Readers' FORUM
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SHAWKAT JAMIL |
Unbearable living cost
These days, price-hike of essential commodities has become a great concern for people across income levels and has also turned into a headache for policy makers who are busy implementing new policies to keep the prices of commodities under control but, in most cases, in vain. Even the OMS (Open Market Sale) programme through TCB (Trading Corporation Bangladesh had little impact. While living costs are on the rise, income levels remain the same, and those belonging to low income groups are at a loss as to how to make ends meet. On the other hand, the rich are getting richer, often by unlawful means, hoarding commodities among clandestine syndicates. The social balance has obviously been broken. Though perhaps only a few groups are causing these dire difficulties for the masses, they are yet to be nabbed and punished. We demand that they be brought to book and the prices of essentials controlled.
Ashim Kumar Paul
Department of English
Govt. Edward College, Pabna
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A threat to creativity
The tendency of students going for private tuition is a common and worrying phenomenon and guardians are not free from its grip either.
A private tuition room or coaching centre can never be an alternative to a school or college classroom. But students have become highly dependent on them at the cost of nurturing their creativity. Private tuition is definitely important, especially since our class sizes are large and it is difficult for teachers to pay special attention to each student. Also, abilities of students differ and so does the time it takes different students to understand. So a student may go to a private tutor for better understanding, but this should not be a regular phenomenon. Guardians are also caught up in a competitive culture where they pressure their wards to do, sometimes, better than their best and they think they can achieve this by going to private tutors and memorising their notes. And so students, instead of looking up material in the library and elsewhere, surrender themselves blindly to guidebooks. Parents push their children to excel academically at the cost of their psychological development and creativity. Both students and their guardians believe that the private tutors and their notes can make them do better in their exams but this is wrong. The liability also lies with the teachers who, in order to make more money, make the students dependent on them instead of encouraging their creativity and making them self-reliant. If teachers misguide students, there can be no worse moral corruption. The young generation carries the future on their shoulders; if they cannot depend on themselves then what will become of the nation? It is time we start paying attention to these matters, especially to encouraging creativity in our younger generations.
Shima Chowdhury
Lecturer, Department of English
Govt. Pioneer Girls College, Khulna
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Border relationships
On March 12, 2011 a press conference was held between the Director General of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) Maj Gen Rafiqul Islam and Border Security Force (BSF) in which the BSF declared that India will provide the BSF with non-lethal weapons in order to stop killing of unarmed Bangladeshis along its border.
At some point in the meeting, the BGB team handed over to India a list of criminals and anti-Bangladeshi persons, including those of Bangabhumi movement and drug smugglers.
The Indian side also supplied Bangladesh with its list of miscreants involved in human trafficking and those helping passing of fake Indian currency through Bangladesh from other countries.
We see this is a big step for the two countries and hope that their friendly relationship will continue in future. However, these initiatives may not be enough and both countries may have to take other steps to build on the relationship. But so far, the issue of non-lethal weapons is a good step and we hope that the killings in the border areas will stop.
Rowshan Ali
Department of Law
Northern University of Bangladesh
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Utilising traffic signal posts
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Star Photo |
Traffic congestion has become a major headache for the inhabitants of Dhaka city. A traffic drive was supposed to be going on from November 1, 2010, but much of its vigour has died down and traffic jams are now as prevalent as ever in the streets of the capital.
I think the congestions can be minimised a great deal if only the drivers and also the traffic police make use of the signal posts. Our traffic monitors usually handle the traffic minding the 'traffic pressure'. This means they allow the traffic of a particular road to pass through and thin out before permitting the vehicles of another road to get going. It does not matter which of the red or green light is flashing, the traffic police goes on his business allowing the signal post to consume electricity for nothing. Our experiences are proving that this technique has not been of much use in tackling congestion. But I firmly believe that following the traffic signals accurately will do the job for us. Almost all the signal posts in the capital are operating day and night, and so we only need the good intentions of the authorities and the drivers to benefit from them.
I hope the people behind the wheels and the law enforcers will value the traffic signal lights to build up a well-managed traffic system for the city.
Shahriar Kabir
Dept. of EEE, BUET, Dhaka
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