Najma Chowdhury: A pioneer in our times
Despite the plethora of television channels at our disposal today and the diverse entertainment they offer, the black and white BTV from national television's earliest heydays evokes a nostalgia that is synonymous to our childhoods, a lost era we seek in the old fraying and browned photographs. The personalities on the television screen we have grown up watching are also eponymous to those days of yore, particularly the children's educational programmes. One such personality is Najma Chowdhury, host of the “K ar Kha” show geared towards toddlers teaching them the alphabet before they are old enough for school.
Born Sophia Najma Chowdhury, the television personality's early life is testament to her cultural and artistic achievements. Honed in literary and artistic education from a young age, her maternal uncle Abdul Matin was a National Award winner. Her parents encouraged her endeavours towards poetry and nurtured her affinity towards literature which led her to publish a book of poetry titled “Nil Konthi,” and win the gold medal twice in the poetry section of the “East Pakistan Week” in erstwhile East Pakistan. Her academic career took off even before she graduated as an Economics student at Dhaka University, first teaching at her mother's college, and then at the Garisson Boys School in Lahore. Her versatility has led her to other artistic endeavours, including being the designer of a calendar published by Bitopi that was later taken by the then late President Zia during his travel to China as a state gift. In an era when women were expected to assume domestic, subjugated roles, Najma Chowdhury was stalwart in her beliefs and her career, making her a role model for women everywhere.
Although having a full time job at the World Bank in the field population education and control, she had a significant impact on national television. “Television and radio was, and still is my passion,” she said, “and that is what drove me despite already having a lucrative career.” In January 1965, she began her television career as an announcer during national TV's pilot airing, and then as live news anchor. “My son then was old enough to go to school,” she said, “and it came to my attention that children are sent off to kindergarten before they are emotionally ready to be separated from their home. It was then the inspiration to begin a show that can enable early education at home using the direct teaching method, which I must add was an idea I had borrowed from watching my mother. I then approached Mustofa Monowar with my idea and asked him if it is possible to create such a programme, and he gave me his full support.” Thus the iconic show, “K ar Kha” was conceptualised and created. As well as being the creator, Najma Chowdhury was the sole person in charge of script writing, and researching new material for the programme, as well as the performing host, supported by Sakina Sarwar as the producer.
The children's educational and entertainment show was the first to introduce puppets in 1976 and introduced Bangladesh to the outside world as a country growing in television technology, and subsequently won The Japan International Award in 1978. The show featured a male and female puppet, named “K” and “Kha” respectively. “The role of 'K,' voiced by Khairul Anam Tutul was to display the hesitation children express when pressured into learning new things, and “Kha” was voiced by the now state minister of the Post and Telecommunications Division Tarana Halim who would convince 'K ' and the children that learning was fun,” she added.
In the years that followed, Najma Chowdhury has been inactive in the media. “It gives me great pleasure when people run up to me and tell me they recognise me from the programme,” she stated, “there is no greater reward than knowing that I have been such a significant figure in their lives. I'd be more than happy to be involved again in television once good offers come my way.”
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