Inside
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Readers' FORUM
Corporal punishment at school
At the end of April 2011 and beginning of May 2011 two female school children were tortured by their teachers in Dhaka and Khulna. It is unethical for a school teacher to beat up a student for not enrolling in a coaching centre run by the teacher. We are very concerned about the matter. At the same time we hope our education minister will take steps regarding the matter otherwise parents will lose interest in sending their children to school especially in rural areas.
On the other hand, the concerned authorities should take steps against such Teachers who physically and verbally abuse students. Such brutal corporal punishment must be stopped by taking action against the perpetrators. Teachers are supposed to love their students like their children but instead they are punishing them for money.
These crimes cannot be stopped without taking official action and it must be stopped. As it is, many people from rural areas are not very interested in educating their children and corporal punishment at schools will discourage them further and the entire education system of the country will collapse. We have to take action against these teachers for the future of our country and if not, the government will be held liable for their inaction.
Rowshan Ali
Department of Law
Northern University Bangladesh
Arable land on the decline
The population of Bangladesh is constantly on the rise while the agricultural fields are declining alarmingly. Compared to the population growth and the basic needs of the people in order to maintain a moderate lifestyle, the situation of decreasing cultivable land is cause for anxiety.
Apart from the growing population, land-grabbing for trade and industry is the major concern for the diminution. In order to enhance their business, many commercial organisations try to occupy fertile lands in rural areas because of low prices in comparison to land in urban areas. In some cases, the owners are coerced into selling their land due to the continuous threat on their lives. As a result, both food security and natural balance are now at stake. Besides, due to their clandestine relationship with some unscrupulous administrative officials, many of these land grabbers escape legal consequences.
Though the ministry for land, reviewing the worsening picture of grabbing of arable land, is going to ordain an act that will sternly forbid any type of construction or non-agricultural establishments on agricultural land, it is expected that the act will not be limited to being on paper. It must be made effective as a law for the people.
Ashim Kumar Paul
Department of English
Govt. Edward College, Pabna
Democracy
As the conventional wisdom goes -- especially in the West -- Israel is the "only democracy" in the Middle East. And that is so, particularly for its Jewish citizens. However, Israel has been anything but democratic for the indigenous people of the land, the Palestinian Arabs. By nature and precedence, foreign military occupation is temporary. Colonialism on the other hand, and more precisely civilian colonisation, is a socio-political system of ruling over another people.
Israel is really a police state. If they don't put you in jail, they at least put you out of your job for saying anything they don't want you to say. They claim they don't have censorship -- possession is nine-tenths of the law. Occupancy is very difficult to overcome and Israel has already got the Palestinians' land.
The Jews seem divided among themselves and the unity of the Palestinians is the strong point of the latter. It is also encouraging to see many Jews sympathising with the Arabs. Let us hope that the Middle East crisis will one day be resolved.
Ted Rudow III, MA
Palo Alto, CA, USA