Textbook should promote communal harmony
School textbooks should not contain any topic that may fan the flames of bigotry and intolerance in the minds of children, said speakers at an Education Day rally in the capital yesterday.
Staging a sit-in protest, they also condemned the exclusion of essays and poetries authored by noted humanitarian writers from this year's textbooks and demanded reinstatement of the items in textbooks next year.
Jatiya Sikkha O Sangskriti Rokkha Andolan, a platform of students, teachers, children, women, professionals and cultural organisations, organised the rally near an entrance of the secretariat commemorating the Education Day.
On this day in 1962, police firing on a student protest on the campus of Dhaka University left several students including Mostafa, Wajiullah and Babul dead and many others injured. The students were protesting the education commission report prepared by Justice Hamoodur Rahman.
The report was withdrawn in 1964 after the movement spread all over the country and uuniversities and colleges had to be closed down.
The movement led the way to the six-point movement in 1966 and the mass upsurge in 1969.
Addressing yesterday's rally, Imran Habib Ruman, president of Socialist Student Front, said the omission of the contents of noted writers such as Rabindranath Tagore and Humayun Azad will tarnish the minds of the future generation with prejudice.
“The writings help us create a bond of brotherhood among ourselves and [that's why] these should not be excluded,” he said, adding that efforts are also necessary to publish superior quality books for children.
Safiuddin Ahmed, president of Udichi Shilpi Goshthi, said the education system should be scientific and its objective should be to nurture and promote humane values in citizens. “The present education system, however, is not fulfilling the objective.”
GM Gilani Shuvo, president of Bangladesh Chhatra Union, said a group of people with vested interest are trying to spread communal unrest in the country by inserting elements of hatred in textbooks.
Meanwhile, National Front of Teachers and Employees (NFTE) and Initiative for Human Development jointly organised a rally on the Central Shaheed Minar premises on the occasion. Speakers of the organisations said education should be free for all. They also condemned atrocities on the Rohingyas in Myanmar and demanded that the government nationalise the education system as well as increase facilities for teachers of private educational intuitions.
Quazi Faruque Ahmed, co-ordinator of NFTE, said for the sake of the country's development, larger funds should be allocated for education.
Comments