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     Volume 2 Issue 6 | March 17, 2007 |



  
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Guru Griho
From Netrokona
The Importance of Branching Out

Zahidul Naim Zakaria

With a mission to make the future generation noble, fearless, patriotic and compassionate and at the same time as industrious and skilled, Onnesha Bidyalay was established in Katli town of Netrokona.

The focus of the institution was towards giving English and Bengali equal importance, since the founders of the institution recognized that the posterior generation would not be able to succeed without learning how to communicate globally. Without being equipped to thrive in the global village, they will never be able to understand the world of international affairs. The utterly indispensable tool to ensuring their active involvement in the global world is a strong background in the language of international communication: English.

The founders of the institution aimed at providing a very good service for a very low tuition fee. They took a big risk, it goes without saying, to open such an institution in a rural environment where the average level of income is very low. Onnesha is not a typical school; it's a school that goes beyond the institutional norms that have been established in most schools. Rather than accepting the way content of education is usually delivered, the teachers create their own environment. Instead of forcing children to adhere to rules and dictating their codes of conduct, the institution tries to develop a sense of morality in the students that guides them in their activities. The children learn that memorization does not help them to grow, so rather they learn and understand the facts and concepts. The children also understand that the only way they can make themselves better at language is to read more and more and gain a higher level of exposure to the language, and so they don't have to be told to read; the majority of children automatically develop a reading habit.

Alongside usual course materials, language, arithmetic, geography and science, the students are also educated about the country's heritage and culture. They are taught to be aware of the environment and how the environment is our friend. They are made to realize how harming the environment actually means to harm ourselves. Every day, six days a week, (Fridays are off) the students gather at the front yard for the daily assembly.

Faculty and administrative staff are also present here every day as the flag is raised and the National Anthem is sung in chorus. On particular occasions this assembly is also supplemented by recitations and talks by teachers.

Every potential student has to sit for an admission test, which evaluates his or her academic caliber and then the student is accordingly placed in whichever class appropriate. The teachers try their best to deliver the course material in such a way so that most of the work is done is class, and the student has time at home to reflect on the things he learnt properly.

Onnesha gives special attention to the role of parents, guardians and family in the mental and academic development of the student. They have developed codes of conduct for parents and guardians to ensure that the students have the minimum amount of necessary supervision that they require from their families in order to become meritorious students. Onnesha Bidyalay delivers academics along with a healthy side dish of cultural and ethical teachings, because the institution believes that the only way our country can prosper is through this sort of broad education, which can shape the citizens who will be responsible for shaping the country in the future.

 

 

 

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