RU teacher killing: Who will now run the music school?

The fate of the music school that slain Prof AFM Rezaul Karim Siddiquee had endeavoured to give an institutional structure has become uncertain.

Locals of Dargamaria said the school was the lone source of entertainment for music lovers in the area and the neighbouring villages.

Who would run the school as its main entrepreneur is gone, many of them asked.

 “It would be difficult for the school to sustain as there is no one to look after it,” said Riasat Imtiaz Sourav, Prof Rezaul's son.

Although we did not get any time to think about the school, my grandparents, who are there in the village, would decide on the matter, he said.

Prof Rezaul's brother Sazedul Karim Siddiquee said, “The main man behind the school is gone, now the villagers together can run it.”

Except for Shilpakala Academy in Bagmara upazila headquarters, there is no other music school in the upazila. Another institution named Premiere Academy is there but it remains closed most of the time.

Around one and a half years ago, Prof Rezaul, who used to play the sitar, organised a meeting with more than 50 villagers and decided to set up the music school there after taking their opinions, said Zahrool Islam.

Zahrool, a teacher of Peerganj Karigori BM College and president of the music school committee, said Prof Rezaul donated a portion of his land for the school and built a tin-roofed school house.

Prof Rezaul also bought a harmonium, dugi-tabla, and employed a music teacher at Tk 1,000 per month. Electricity connection was also taken for the school and Prof Rezaul regularly paid the bills, he added.

The villagers showed huge enthusiasm for the school in the beginning, but mysteriously, the number of students started to dwindle in the following months, said Ibrahim Ali Sardar, the music teacher of the school.

Ibrahim, also a teacher of Basupara Government Primary School, said he began with around 30 students in August or September of 2015. Then the number came down to 15. “And when the number fell to 3 or 4, I talked to him [Rezaul] and he asked me to continue,” he said.

Prof Rezaul used to go to the neighbouring villages for students for the school after he failed to get enough students from his own village, he said.

After a few months, Ibrahim noticed that guardians from other villages, like Gangopara and Telipukur, some 2 or 2.5km from Dargamaria, brought their children to the school.

“Finally, I got 10 regular students, mostly primary and high school students from other villages,” he said.

Asked whether there was any objection against the school, Ibrahim said he did not hear of any.

Village women used to visit the school to listen to the music. Usually, the kids were taught Chhoragaan, and Tagore and Nazrul songs there, he said.

Ibrahim said Prof Rezaul asked him to practise Chhoragaan and Sargam more than any other songs.

Noorjahan, a student of the music school, told this correspondent that she along with her younger sister Nargis and eight others of Gangopara village were very happy to go to the music school.

“I learnt a few songs there. But now I don't know what will happen if the school is closed,” she said. Noorjahan is also a class-VIII student of Karnapara High School.

Shahjahan Ali, a TV-radio mechanic, said, “Mukul bhai [nick name of Prof Rezaul] wanted to help the children explore and develop their skills in music and tried to bring in all the music lovers in and around the village there.”

“Mukul bhai and I used to sit in the school together, and he played his sitar and I played the harmonium,” he said.

“Now that Mukul bhai is gone, the school will have to be closed and there will be no entertainment for us.”