MAILBOX

Are we viewers or consumers?

The article titled "Are we viewers or consumers?" published in Star Weekend on May 05, 2017, really shocked me. It was on the poor quality of our local entertainment sector. From the mouth of renowned artists, we heard a tale of sorrow in this article. They focused on how there are so many problems in the local entertainment sector – such as business-driven mentality of the producers, low quality productions with insufficient budgets, amateur actors, and the even less care TV channel owners take to maintain the quality of their programs as it is not their primary source of income. In addition, guilds and associations in the entertainment sector are also lax in enforcing rules and regulations. Moreover, quality of acting and learned actors are decreasing as they do not want to involve themselves in money games and politics. All these troubles cause us to remain as consumers instead of viewers. So, it is high time for the concerned authorities and government to look into our entertainment sector in order to improve quality and keep the sector free of corporatisation.

Md Tarek Aziz Bappi

Haji Mohammad Muhsin Hall

University of Dhaka

"Are we becoming less civilised with time?"

With the changing times, society is also changing in various ways. Our people are advancing forward with the modern world but are our minds also advancing? The article published last week under the title "Let's Talk About Sex(uality), Not Police It" showed the limitations of our minds which went on discussing secondary negligible issues of sexuality while avoiding the massive issues of abuse and harassment of women. Locking up Professor Syed Shamsuddin Ahmed shows how we treat our own people, dedicated to the welfare of the people of our country. The miserable conditions of the Dalit community with the threat of eviction from Ganaktuli City Colony of Hazaribagh, also shows the limitations of our mind towards a community working for us. Naturally, the question arises "Are we becoming less civilised with time?" It is time to enlighten our minds by opening all its windows; it is time to think and truly civilize our minds.

Nafis Sadik

Farmgate, Dhaka

SSC Suicides

It's time for change. The article on suicides of our SSC students by Maliha Khan, titled "The human cost of an education" depicts the current wretched scenario. I feel that it's now time for change. Changes should come from within the family, in educational institutions, and in society as a whole. Parents can play an important role here by supporting their children. Teachers have the opportunity to protect our students by advising and counselling them. GPA-5 or Golden GPA-5 is not the only parameter to be a good student, there are many different parameters. Besides, it is more important to be a good human being than a good student. Finally, we have to remove the GPA parameter in eligibility for admission tests in higher education. In this regard, our higher educational institutions should take effective steps to address this problem.

Nazmul Hasan Shawon

Dept. of Banking and Insurance, University of Chittagong