Please do not make Class VIII students guinea pigs

       The education ministry recently announced its decision to hold the first-ever junior school certificate examinations, starting from November 4. It also announced the schedule for the examinations, according to which Bangla and Engish exams will be held in two days.We all know each subject has two papers of 100 marks each.In secondary school certificate and higher secondary certificate examinations, too, candidates take Bangla I and II on one day and English I and II on another.Is it not putting too much pressure on Class VIII students?

       Everyone agrees that our students are generally weak in English but the education ministry does not seem to have paid any heed to it . It has also ignored the routine of the Dhaka education board, according to which each paper can be held in a day.
       Some 15 lakh students are going to take the junior school certificate examinations .The education ministry has made a lot of changes in its decision with regard to the examinations since April. It seems the ministry has made students of Class VIII some sort of guinea pigs in its experimentations.

       Regrettably still, no one has yet raised any objection to the schedule for the junior school certificate examinations, although bundles of letter get published in different newspapers on different issues every day.

Non - stop population bloom in Bangladesh

    The Malthusian theory , a well - known theory of population studies , states that whenever human beings obtain more than mere subsistence, their number goes up until everybody is back at the level of subsistence. World population grew at a very high rate since the early 1950s because of higher level of  agricultural productivity during the green revolution period. The population continues to increase as the world is not in a position to return to its initial level of subsistence.Overpopulation is now a problem in many countres in the world and the population control has become a serious issue.
    Among many factors influencing population growth, dependency on children during crisis periods is considered as vital . Taking children is considered as a mode of insurance because parents expect to get financial and non-financial support from their children at their late age.Taking many children is comparable with modern portfolio theory which suggests diversification and options to manage risk from many activities, Under limited financial market without national health insurance and pension schemes, it is diffcult to motivate people to prefer fewer children and to make trade-off between children and alternative insurance. However, economic incentive has much to do because it can drive people to work hard , to produce quality products, to study , to invest, and to save.

Take about real issues

      Intolerable traffic jam, load shedding , gas crisis cripple our city life. These issues nowadays are the main focus of almost all Bengali and English-language dailies every day.A severe problem prevails in the Chittagong port. Awami League activists the other assaulted the officials at the deputy commissioner's office in Pabna and forced cancellation of a recruitment examination.The Bangladesh chhatra league activists are reporetedly doing the same throughout the country. A ruling party leader and his relatives destroyed a house in open daylight and grabbed the land.
     Traffic jam, load shedding , gas crisis intensify day by day.The government has not taken any effective measures to solve these problems but hammer on some issues that are hardly related to the well being of the people.

Constitutional mandate

      Syed Ali's opinion on the matter is a personal observation.If the members of parliament deem it necessary,they should pass appropriate laws governing the norms and procedure laws governing the norms and procedure vis-s-vis presidential clemency for convicts.Was not any view on the matter expressed their views and sincere advice on the matter , particularly related to exhausting of all legal channels.
      His opinion, or advice , to the president ,to 'judiciously' use his authority , is rather impolite .I am sure he could have written to the member of parliament of his constituency or to the president directly , if he felt so strongly about the issue, rather than putting it in the print media as a direct criticism of the president; which it amounts to!
      Also ,giving a hypothetical example is also not the way to go about it.It would have been better be to deal with the matter as it is since he seems to be well aware about it.Citing such examples,seems more like giving advice publicly , and that too, to the president.It seems rather impolite . After all is said and done, he is the head of state.

Restriction on import of day-old chick

      A number of hatchery owners have been charging Tk 70 for a day old chick since last year whereas, if business ethics is followed,the price of a chick should not be more than Tk 20.This has pushed up the price of  egg and chicken exorbitantly . As a consequence ,thousands of short and medium poultry farms could not make sustainable profit and a good number also faced closure.
     In the recent past that when the government decided to allow the import of chick ,hatchery owners convened a press conference and misled the public that Indian chicks would bring bird flu and destroy thousands of poultry farms in the country .In fact,they are jeopardising the poultey farms by charging irrationally high prices.They managed to persuade the government decision-makers to impose a ban and other restrictions on import of day old chick,egg and chicken .This is a conspiracy to monopolise the poultry business.

Traffic in Dhaka

     The traffic jams in Dhaka have become unbelievable nowadays.The country's capital is a big mess.There is na sign of the authorities' willingness to discharge its responsibility. Available roads and the number of vehicles are totally disproportionate.The ever-increasing number of vehicles on the road makes life more miserable for the citizens of the overcrowded city.Millions of work hours are list on the road.How can the  people of Dhaka get out of this painful situation? There is no simple solution.
      I think the government should encourage more public transportation and discourage private vehicles.Like all other big cities,the morning rush hour goes on from 7:00 am to 10.00 am.In these three hours the left lane of all main roads should be reserved for public buses only.All other buses and private vehicles should use the other lanes .It can be the same evening rush hours.
      People should be encouraged to take public buses and leave behind their vehicles at home.Public buses should follow a strict schedule with discipline.During the rush hours,every two minutes or five minutes (depends from where) there should be frequent bus services so that passengers can travel comfortably instead of owners and their employees by treating them fairly in a public-private partnership.

In praise of a teacher

    Just when I was beginning to think that Bangladesh was becoming bankrupt of all morals,common decency,and self-respect ,it was most refreshing and inspiring to read the letter from former schoolteacher Shakul Ali (New Age,September 17.)
    For 30 years Mr Ali had been part of the system that unapologetically inflicts pain and suffering on innocent and vulnerable children.He wrote that on very rare occasions he was one of the "torturers" (my description not his) for which he deeply regrets.Much to his honour,dignity and pride,he spent most of his school carrer trying to convince his colleagues that corporal punishment is wrong.
   No doubt Mr Ali is one of the rare breed of teachers, whom some of us were lucky to have teaching us,who've brought great honour , glory and respect to the profession and whom most of us admire long after we've left school.