Feature

14th Foundation Day Celebration at EWU

Kamrul Hasan

EAST West University (EWU) celebrated its 14th Foundation Day recently at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC). Starting in September 1996 with six teachers and only 20 students, EWU had a humble beginning. Over the years, it has climbed the ladders of success and has established itself as a leading private university in the country. Today it has over 245 faculty members and 5,300 students. Offering tertiary education at an affordable cost, the founders of EWU envisioned serving the middle and lower middle-income family wards.

The Foundation Day's programme showcased a national children art competition in the morning where hundreds of enthusiastic and jovial children competed with each other with brushes and paints. They were divided into three groups-- A, B and C based on their age. Three eminent artists of the country Abdus Sattar, Hamidizzaman Khan and Abul Barak Alvi judged the children's works. The judges were surprised and enthralled by seeing the extent of imagination and the dexterity of children's drawings and paintings. Cash prizes with medal and certificates were given to top three winners in each group including 10 consolation prizes. Famous actor Ilius Kanchan and drama personality Rokeya Prachi were also present.

Prior to the art exhibition, the acting President of the Board of Directors of EWU, MA Munin formally launched the programme by floating colourful balloons and flying pigeons in air on a sparkling morning of November. There was a club show where 20 student activity clubs of EWU joined and presented their achievements and spectrum of activities to the guests. These clubs-ranging from computer programming to debating, from photography to sports, had a strong presence at the foyer of the Hall of Fame.

In the afternoon, at the Hall of Fame of BICC, there was an award giving ceremony where the longest serving employees and teachers of the university were recognized. The Minister for Information and Cultural Affairs, Abul Kalam Azad was the chief guest and eminent Dr. Serajul Islam Choudhury was the special guest. The university also recognized the scholarly contributions of its faculty members in the field of research. In his speech, the chief guest stressed on the need of building public-private partnership for solving problem in the education sector. He praised the leading role of EWU in spreading quality education and building future leaders of the country. The special guest focused on building characters and developing human qualities besides learning new knowledge. He iterated EWU is playing the right kind of role in this regard. The Vice Chancellor Professor Mahammed Sharif delivered the opening speech where he recalled the recognition EWU is earning for its dedicated service to society. The Pro Vice Chancellor Professor Muniruddin Ahmed also spoke on the occasion and gave vote of tanks to the guests.

In the evening the student of EWU put sparkling, colourful and enjoyable cultural programme on state. The programme was organised by the EWU Performing Arts Club. The students upheld the heritage and Bengali culture in their show. There were several solo and group songs covering the old masters as well those of the contemporary ones, the melodies enchanted the audience. Dancers enthralled the gallery with two super presentations one a classical dance and another a pop dance imitating late Michael Jackason. There were skids and jokes, a short drama imitating Jatra, a dance remix and recitation from Nazrul's poetry. Around 1500 students and faculty members of the university enjoyed the function. The university brought out a colourful souvenir on the Foundation Day, which records a brief history of the university and its journey.

(The writer is the Assistant Professor of Department of Business Administration, EWU)