When in 1952 the students of Dhaka university took to streets in demand of announcing Bengali as the state language, defied rule 144 and was fired upon, the leader of pakistan was Khawaja Nazimuddin of Dhaka Nabab Bari. And clearly his ordered the police shooting that killed Rafiq, Jabbar, Shafiur, Salam, Barkat and 9 year old Ohiullah. Khawaja Nazimuddin took over the governorship of Pakistan after the sudden death of Mr M A Zinnah and became the prime minister after assasination of Liakat Ali Khan. Even after the killing of 21 st february when there was strong pressure/emotion both from the east and the west side of the country to announce Bangla as the state language, Khawaja Nazimuddin refused to yield to any pressure to recognize Bangla. And he did not let it happen as long as he was the prime minister. Later Mohammad Ali Bogra of Bogra Nabab Bari, after becaming prime minister, did take the steps to recognize Bangla as the state language.
Although Khawaja Nazimuddin and his family failed to stop Bangla from getting the official recognition, they themselves never accepted Bangla as a respectable language. Down the generations his family kept on speaking urdu at home and getting education in a non bengali format i.e. either English or Urdu.
Yasmin Zakiuddin ( later turned Morshed) had to go to Pakistan for her education in sohi Urdu as there was no good ” Non-Bangla” education outfit in pre and post independence Bangladesh. So, on returning home, she built Dhaka Scholastica school to help the coming generations of Khawaja Nazimuddin keep shunning Bangla. This school will, rather following a school curriculum tailored to the culture, history and sensitivity of Bangladesh, will impose a European curriculum. Although scholastica maintains a tag line of “equal fluency in Bangla” to silence the skeptics like me, the ultimate goal was to send Bangla back to where Nazimuddin thought it belongs, the language of the uncultured, dirt poor peasants and subjects.
And what Nazimuddin could not do with bullets and tear gas, her great-grand daughter did it superbly fifty years later. Only in 25 years, The counter ‘Ekushey’ revolution of language movement that she started, saw grand success. Thanks to Yasmin Morshed’s English Medium revolution, we now have a generation of Kids who would rather converse in English among themselves. And Bangla has been relegated to where is belongs, the education medium of the poor, low class kids.
Yasmin Morshed has just been apointed Bangladesh’s high commissioner to Pakistan. I don’t know what she did to uplift the nation or to promote the science, economy or culture of Bangladesh to deserve such a rewarding assignment. But I know that urdu loving Ms Yasmin Morshed will have a soothing life in Pakistan among her kins.
And this is how the revolution that started on 21st february 1952, ends, three generations later, in a big defeat.
In the Middle of Nowhere 
November 24, 2007 at 4:27 pm
I noticed the way she speaks in Bangla is a bit unusual. But I Didn’t know about her background. Provided, the story you depicted is true, it might be another exposure of the true colors of the present rulers of Bangladesh. At a time, when perpetrators of war crimes of 1971 can dare to call for punishments of the freedom fighters as war-criminals, this story although very upsetting, doesn’t surprise me too much.
November 24, 2007 at 6:40 pm
Thanks for your timely article. But it would have been nice, if you could write this write-up in Bengali. Otherwise, one might think, according to your own remarks : “Bangla has been relegated to where is belongs, the education medium of the poor, low class kids.”, that you are also representing high class society.
Kindly note, however, I understand the difficulties in writing Bengali on blogs.
November 24, 2007 at 7:03 pm
Rumi bhai, I agree with the gist of your post. But I think this is a lot complicated than what you write. Long comment warning, and for the record, I’m not an ex-Scholastician.
Yes, schools like Scholastica raised a generation of kids who are more comfortable in English than Bangla. Yes, these are predominantly from elite families, and they’re becoming further removed from the Bangladeshi mainstream, and that is a worry. But we would be less than truthful if we said these elite kids would have much in common with the mainstream anyway. If not for Scholastica, some of these kids would have gone to cadet colleges and created a different class barrier. Even if they had gone to Govt Lab of Viqarunnisa, those schools themselves are pretty selective. So the damage to the social cohesion from Scholastica is perhaps not as much as you fear.
There is, however, another major change of similar nature – widening social gap that is linked with language – that is potentially far bigger than anything Scholastica could have caused. I’m talking about the intrusion of Hindi.
50 years after the language movement, in February 2002, if you had gone through the living rooms of a typical middle class family in Dhaka, you’d have found that their TVs were tuned to some Indian channels. And whether it is a quiz show, a serial, music or movie – the language would have been Hindi. Very few – perhaps the elderly man of the house (the chacha type) – would watch the news programmes, and there would be the occassional natoks, and the house helps would watch the Dhakai films on Friday afternoon. But in the late 1990s and early 2000s, our airwaves were owned by Hindi. And as a result, a generation of kids, of far broader socio-economic backgrounds than potential Scholasticians, were growing up being conversant in Hindi. As a result, Hindi phrases and idioms were getting into the daily language of Dhakaites.
Now, before anyone starts shouting Indian conspiracy, this was our choice. We chose to watch Indian programmes. We chose to take their phrases. No one made us do it. Just like no one made us adopt Tagore’s Bangla as our own 50 years earlier.
But this is not where the story ends though. In the past 5-6 years, another remarkable thing happened. Pioneered by Ekushey TV (before it was shut down), we saw Bangla strike back. Through Bondhon, Ekannoborti and other serials, we saw the rise of Bangla serials. And one could argue that the language of these serials are closer to the mukher bhasha of Salam/ Barkat – there is a very lively debate going on in Prothom Alo op-ed pages on this. Around the same time, we have seen people like Ornob/Anusheh/Habib revitalise Bangla music. And of course, until recently at least, we saw the rise of Bangla news/current affairs/talk shows that could rival any in the world. Whatever the political origins of our TV channels, they have been the keeper of Bangladeshi identity.
But there is another twist. Over the same time that Bangla channels have reversed the Hindi invasion of our cultural space, Hindi has made a large stride in our economic one. My understanding (and I’m happy to be proved wrong) is that in most large businesses – banks, ad agencies, buying houses, garments, IT, education consultancy, other manufacturing, retail, hotels – in Dhaka, the middle management is composed of Indian nationals who usually speak Hindi.
If we look beyond the nationalist glory stories of 1,000 year old culture, most students protested against Urdu because in a Urdu-based world, they’d have no economic future. Now, nearly 6 decades after Jinnah and 4 decades after Mujib, aren’t we seeing something similar? And no shot has been fired for this.
There are perfectly valid economic rationales for this reliance on Indian know-how. I think it would be suicidal for us to shut our borders and not deal with India. But we do need to think about how we deal with them. And in this, perhaps we can look to the examples of India’s own southern states.
November 24, 2007 at 11:45 pm
Definitely Jyoti. Hindi agression ios a major worry and few people in Bangladesh progressive circles care to talk about it. One person who keeps on talking about it is writer Anisul Hoque.
See, the problem is no longer one scholastica or Maple leaf. Now a days you will hardly get any kid who does not go to an English medium school. Something happened in last 5 years, and all the guardians who can afford, are sending theor kids to English schools. In my generation ( 70s/80s) 99% of the students did Bangla medium schooling, in 90s, it was 20% at least and at the tirn of the century, almost 80% of Middle upper middle class as well as upper class kids are going to English medium and those less previleged kids are going to Bangla medium.
If you have a doubt, go ask you friend or relative to send their kid to Bangla medium school. See what response you get.
Hindi aggression is something our rich folk tradition can fight back. Yet this fight was fought by a Partha, a sanjib Chowdhury, a Chandan or a even a James. I hope the generation of Habib, Ornob or Anushe will carry the tradition. And Hindi could not yet enter our classrooms and the fight was easy. But, thanks to scholastica revolution, when English is been seen as the passport to real education, real establishment, real class status, I feel the fight against it will be a difficult one.
November 25, 2007 at 12:31 am
রুমি ভাই,
ইয়াসমিন মোরশেদকে শাস্তি দিতে গিয়ে স্কলাস্টিকার সব ছাত্র-ছাত্রিদের ক্রসফায়ারে ফালাইলেন? :)ঠিক আছে, কি আর করার!
এই কথাটা সত্যি, বাংলার উপর বিন্দুমাত্র দখল নেই ওনার : এক শব্দ বাংলা বললে, পাঁচ শব্দ ইংরেজি বলতে বাধ্য থাকেন!
এখনকার কথা জানি না, তবে এক সময় ছিল যখন তার ছাত্র-ছাত্রীদের ইংরেজি ও বাংলার দক্ষতা প্রায় সমান সমান ছিল। তখনকার দিনে ছেলেমেয়েদের পছন্দের ভাষা নিয়ে শবচেয়ে বড় প্রভাব ফেলত তাদের মা-বাবারা।
বাংলা ভাষার প্রতি অবমাননা, অশ্রদ্ধা বা অবহেলা – যদি সত্যি আমাদের সবার মধ্যে কম-বেশী থেকে থাকে – তা আমরা আসলে স্কুলের শিক্ষক-শিক্ষীকাদের কাছ থেকে শিখিনি। স্কলাস্টিকায় আমাকে তিন বছর বাংলা পড়িয়েছিলেন একজন ভদ্রমহিলা যিনি ষাটের দষকে ঢাবিতে “প্রগতিশীল রাজনীতি” করতেন। বাংলাদেশের ইতিহাস আমাদের পরিয়েছেন ওনারই মতো আরেকজন ব্যক্তি। এইরকম মানুষদের জন্যেই আজ নিজেকে বাঙ্গালি বা বাংলাদেশী বলতে গর্ব বোধ করি।
তবে বাংলা ভাষার প্রতি অবমাননা শিখেছিলাম সত্যি বলতে অন্য ছাত্র-ছাত্রিদের কাছে। তারা কেউ কেউ ছিল রাজনিতিবীদদের ছেলেমেয়ে, কেউ কেউ ছিল যা আমরা বলতে পারি “nouveau riche” আর কেউ কেউ ছিল বেশ পুরান ধ্বনি পরিবারের (অনেকটা মিসেস মোরশেদের মতই)। আপনি ওদের সাথে দুই মিনিট বসলেই বুঝতে পারতেন ওদের ইংরেজির প্রতি দুর্বলতা আসতো বাড়ীর দিক থেকে, স্কুলের দিক থেকে নয়। মধ্যবিত্য পরিবারের ছেলেমেয়েরা – এবং তারাই ছিল আমার সময় সংখ্যাধিক – সাধারণত এই আংরেজ-পাসান্দ দলে পরতো না।
মূল বক্তব্য এটাই: স্কলাস্টিকা যদি নাও থাকত, বাংলার অবহেলা ও অবমাননা রয়েই যেত। এবং এর পিছনে যেই শব কারণ রয়েছে, তা নিয়ে আপনি একটু লেখালখি করবেন ভবিষ্যতে, এই অনুরোধ রইল। আপনার এই ব্লগটাও অন্য ব্লগগুলর মতো খুব গুরুত্বপূর্ণ কয়েকটা ব্যাপারের দিকে আমাদের নজর দিতে বাদ্ধ্য করেছে। তার জন্যে আবারও ধন্যবাদ।
November 25, 2007 at 1:55 am
Why do the middle Dhaka send their kids to the English medium schools? No one forces them to do so. They do it for the same reasons as most of us do most of the things we do – they get better value for money from the English medium schools.
But why do the English medium schools do better? For the government-run Bangla medium schools I accept that funding is an issue. But why aren’t their quality privately owned Bangla schools? At the top level there are Viqarunnisa, Holy Cross, St Joseph, Udayan, Notre Dame etc. And these schools used to produce as good students if not better as Scholastica. But where are the 2nd tier quality pruvate Bangla schools?
Ms Murshed decided for whatever reason to cater for the O’ Level market, fine. One can’t begrudge someone’s entrepreneurial spirit. Why didn’t others try to create quality Bangla schools?
And before anyone raises globalisation and the need for English etc – the English syllabus at the HSC level circa 1992-93 used to prepare one perfectly well for any university in the world.
November 25, 2007 at 4:03 am
Today’s Lakehead Grammar School at Dhanmondi 6 behind the RANGS Anam Plaza Shopping Complex was formerly the building of Scholastica School. This building is owned by this kraut Yasmin Morshed & she inherited this from the Nawab Family. I know about this kraut from very beginning. :-X
November 25, 2007 at 8:48 am
The problem is much bigger. Yasmin Morshed is definitely one part of it. The blog was not an assay on ” Why Bangla is no longer an accepted medium of education”.
It was on one Yasmin Morshed whose great grandfather as PM of Pakistan resisted Bangla to be state language and didn’t hesitate to shoot his own people to prevent Bangla getting official recognition.
So it was a blog for the same family who never accepted Bangla in any capacity and even contiued the culture of speaking urdu at home. It was about a daughter of that family who also shuns Bangla and even goes to Pakistan for Urdu education.
And for sure its not fair to blame one for a crime committed by the great grand father. But, the descendents never attempted show even a mock goodwill gesture towards Bangla. Three generations later, in an overwhelmingly Bangla environment they kept on practicing Urdu. Mrs Morshed is very much aware about the standing of her great grand father in Bangladesh. So if there was any remorse, she would have conscious enough to invest her energy and clout for a Bangla school, not an english one.
[During last caretaker government, a heated debate broke out in the cabinet with Iajuddin and rest of the advisors. All were trying to dissuade Iajuddin from calling in army. When her turn came Yasmin told Iajuddin, ” Sir my grand father is buried in Suharwardy Udyan, a stone throw from here. On all occassions, Roza, Eid, thousands of people assemble there and pray for other two leaders beside him. Nobody prays for my grandfather. Its only me we cries and pray for my grand father. Sir please do not do anything that will put in the wrong side of the history.” ::Roughly translated fom newspaper report].
And when she sets up a venture to cater english medium O level education in Bangladesh, it gets difficult dismiss that only as ‘entrepreneurial spirit’.
And the blogpost is also not aimed at vilifying Sholastica. I have definitely no grudge against Scholastica.
And all these questions come up because Yasmin Morshed becomes a vital ambassador of Bangladesh.
November 25, 2007 at 11:27 am
I know no member of this family… I never got into them… but I guess Bangla is not the language they use at their home. Now, its totally upto them that what language they’ll use… but when a family abandons the mother tongue, there must be two reasons. Either they don’t live in the motherland (somewhere else where generally used language is something other than the mother tongue), or, they hate the mother tongue. I think that Nawab Family (which’s root is situated in Chundrigarh, UP India) sort of hates the mother tongue… and however a member of this Non-Banagali cultured family has been sent to represent Bangladesh.
November 25, 2007 at 11:56 am
Not only what Rumi Bhai has written here.
Yasmin Morshed has huge influence in Bangladeshi media as many times her students (of Scholastica) have been held for multiple issues like porns, drugs, even mugging etc. It s not like that all journalists of Bangladesh were sleeping while all these happened about Scholastica pupils. Not only that, a bus of Scholastica was held in Uttara R/A in 2004 by a RAB patrol team for unknown reason and Yasmin Morshed was brought to the spot by RAB. It was Yasmin who had to make the deal with RAB to take no official step about that event [I don’t know that where her cosine’s husband Major General Abdur Rahman was at that time, he didn’t come to help anyways]. Its not like that only some people like me know these stories, its known to many people & these events were supposed to covered by media. But it was not.
2 Scholastica students were held by International School Dhaka’s officials while attempting a kidnap on a female student of that school from its gate. That girl’s dad is a very big shot of Bangladesh’s housing business and tried anything to do for his daughter. But he couldn’t make it with Yasmin while she came forward to save her kidnapper students. Later there was a truce between Yasmin & that businessman arranged by the IG of that time.
This is Yasmin Morshed, who never tried to put a full stop at what happens about drugs, sex & porn in her school Scholastica. It would be a warning for parents who want their children to be admitted in Scholastica, if there was any report published about any of these scandals. But it is Yasmin Morshed, who always manages the media.
November 25, 2007 at 1:08 pm
Rumi bhai,
I agree with you that our ambassadorships should be better chosen, from people who represent us better. Not the first time the foreign service has been abused like this. Yes I see your point that this was a post about that rather than english-medium schools in general.
xanthis bhai,
You will find that scholastica’s reputation for “drugs, sex and porn” and even mugging are slightly exagerrated. In a country where porn in sold in front of the national mosque, it suddenly becomes big news that scholastica students have their fair share of it? In a coutry where teenage pregnancies were a problem, it suddenly becomes news that teenagers from Scholastica are having sex? When students from any other institution do crimes, do you always blame the institution?
Yasmeen Murshed really has more important things to do, like sucking up to every government, than to cover up for her students. She usually doesn’t cover up for them when they are out of school compounds and out of uniform.
I know the RAB incident very well, and I will explain to you why. The only reason she showed up there was because it was her school bus that had been stopped. If she gave a fig about her students, that would have made her a better person. btw, the “unknown reason” why RAB stopped the bus was because some students had given two RAB motorcycles running beside their bus the thumbs up sign. RAB officials decided they were being shown the kochu sign, or something worse. Thus the bus was stopped. Try talking to someone who was on that bus, they’ll confirm it.
I know this story really well having heard it first hand from some of the people involved – including a RAB DG – and cite it often to people to show how deep the divisions created by two mediums of educations are. Even when words are not involved, miscommunication becomes easy.
November 25, 2007 at 1:51 pm
Yasmin Murshed’s appointment as Ambassador to Pakistan is not a co-incidence. There is a strong anti-liberation force in play in today’s government, whether we like it or not.
Most informed people in Dhaka know Yasmin Murshed’s family’s background and continues to despise it.
Great article, Rumi bhai.
November 25, 2007 at 7:58 pm
Salam Bhai has gone through what Rumi Bhai really wanted to say by the post I guess.
For ছাত্র bhai :-
The Bus incident was just as you have said. You described it perfectly than me, thanks.
But the kidnapping incident took place at Bashundhara Housing & I had the chance to observe the whole matter (not the kidnap attempt. I experienced negotiation, arrangements, truce etc.) Though that two class 8 kidnappers were outside of their school compound, Yasmin showed up to put a fullstop at that matter. The incident was supposed to mention that “Two Scholastica Students Held From Kidnap Attempt”, that what Yasmin did not want to happen & protected her children from that.
About scandals of Scholastica:
It was 2001 when I entered the building of Scholastica for 3rd & last time. What I have seen their is just what I have seen. Those were not that legitimate or decent to mention in a post like this which has tags “Bangladesh”, “History”, “Bangla” at least. Yasmin is the person who can stop all these craps or can at least control up to a limit. But she has never been seen to care about that rather only thing she has done about these dirty matters is, protecting or saving her students when they got held while doing these. And ছাত্র bhai, at least don’t deny these dirty matters of Scholastica. When Scholastica students themselves come to let people know about this, why we should be denying. Its not about what Scholastica students told about these, this is about the fact. Porn that is now available near mosques you have said. Porns are being sold near mosque & are being made inside Scholasitca my friend. Its proved. You have told about why I have blamed the institution. Now, when some particular dirty things happen mostly about most boys & girls of an institution, there must be some problem there. May be this is for the atmosphere, or administration, or culture. But all these things are possible to be controlled by Yasmin Morshed. She never tried because she is one of those reasons I have mentioned. She is the administration my friend.
November 25, 2007 at 8:03 pm
I think Scholastica has not turned into a ‘pilgrim’s place in last 6 years (2001-2007)
November 25, 2007 at 8:08 pm
A great thing you have reminded my about ছাত্র bhai…!
During the bus incident, Director General of RAB was DIG Anwarul Iqbal, today’s LGRD/LGED adviser. That incident has related both Yasmin, DIG Iqbal into that crap. Now, this regime has both of them as employee of it. One as an ambassador, another as adviser.
But I never heard anything bad about Anwarul Iqbal. I think he is okay.
November 25, 2007 at 9:46 pm
So far, I endorsed most writ-ups of Rumi
here in his own spot and DP. But here, I’m dismayed to read this present thread. What he tried here is a kind of demagogy, an attempt to emotionalize readers or swell up them with spurious pride of culture. This thread tells about dystopic or myopic vision.
Our current CTG has been trying their utmost to reform our political and administrative format and we are longing to see a lot. But I think, we have so many stuffs to reform. We have to reform our mindset about false concept of pride, prestige and world-view of cultural heritage.
We need to reinvent our true past. Hitorically, truism is that we had been poor and undeveloped and culturallly belong to a fringe population. We, in this part of Bengal, had the least things to take pride in. That’s why our predecessors, grand-parents or great-grand-parents had to take a voyage to other parts of India to seek education or jobs. And that’s why our great poet Nazrul had to travel to Karachi to get rrecruited in the Bristish Army. From about 115 muslim ICS offficers at the time of independence of India and Pakistan in 1947 from British rule, only about 10 ICS opted to come and settle in eas Pakistan and the rest opted for west Pakistan. Even at the British time or even farther back, any posting at the-then east Bengal was considered to be as punishment posting as it was considered as low-lying swam of uneducated uncultured farmers and fishermen. And this is our undenying true past. Of course,no shame on it. We have constantly
strivig best to have a better everyting.
If you are in abject proverty you have to sacrifice something and no choice but to adapt and adjust with the new and better
for own upliftment.
Why I’m telling this, sticking with the non-beneficial stuff and failing to acecpt the something new and beneficial is fundementalists’ view. And it is applicable universally everywhere: culture is not an immune area. Moreover, culture is not a static stale thing. It has constantly ample scope to thrive. There are something in every culture, I believe, can be termed as chronic ulcer and that may turn into cancerous or detrimental to whole nation-body or society. So is something in us what we should get rid of.
My observation is that we many do excess about our own language, Bengali. It became like a disease. I don’t think that martyrs of language movement did sacrifice their lives for mere language. If someone thinks so it’s mis-interpretation of their intent. They, in fact, through their movement for language did protest agaist political injustice of the erstwhile pakistani government.
Just staying content with talking in our own mother tongue and its official use is a suicidal venture for the nation. In this closely-knitt world and being poor, we must enrich our communicative power assimiliting the use of foreign words and also learn other language for our business, economic and survival cause. If we can appreciate the real-time need of the day, we should, rather, highly appreciate the role of Mrs Yasmeen Murshed for her great intstitute scholastica. We can deplore Kwaja Najimuddin for his ignominious role about the issue of recongnition Bengali as the national language of Pakistan. At the same time we should remember her fore-fathers for many positive roles in this part of Bengal like establishing Dhaka University by Nowab Sir Sallimullah. Even the landed property of BaghaBhavan did belong to them.
We can’t incriminate someone for one’s forefathers mistake and also can’t exonerate someone’s crime for being born in aristrocratic blood. Every individual deserves treatment based on the merits of one’s own deeds.
BTW, though we smell class differences to be educated in specialized English medium schools, we can’t deny the fact, those English medium graduates have been representing us in the international domains better than non-English medium graduates. They are bringing prestige for us and as well as money.
Ershad by introducing soley bengali as the medium of education at college levels did a catastrophic disservice to the nation.
If I were a somebody to the level of decision-making for the country, then I had definitely established an English Academy with far greater grandeur than Bangla Academy right near the Bangla Academy. In every month I would have introduced a special day called “English advancement day”. This doesn’t indicate my snubbing Bengalli as my mother tongue, rather it’s from my passion of seeing our people really able to compete and concur with the developed world.
Moreover, any language, own or foreign is isn’t
a mere property or asset, rather it’s a wealth a permanent tool to benefit people. So we should never hate learning other languages.
Now, the issue is whether making Yasmin Murshed as the ambassador to Pakistan is right or wrong. I believe, this posting was far wiser than the posting of Dr. Debpriya as the permanent representative in UNO. Being an
advisor of the CTG, Ms Yasmeen has proven that she has that eligibility. Eye browsing about her not being from main-stream or still speaks urdu or her grandfather did some mistake,
is a mean way of discrimination against. As national language of Pakistan is Urdu, a fluently Urdu speaking individual should undoubtedly have more plus points with this appointment.
If she herself or her scholastica did some gross follies detrimental to national interest why this issue has been brought up now, not while she was the member of immediate past CTG!
I wonder, why Rumi is so gingerly in opposition to this appointment. But I believe, Rumi has his
own understanding but no personal thing with this critical stand.
Thanks.
November 26, 2007 at 1:04 am
An honest comment by Bitterboy. I need to justify things from Bitter Boy’s point of view. Let me take time. 🙂
November 26, 2007 at 2:41 am
There are hundreds of people dying and they need our help and here we are debating English vs Bangla medium. Lovely.
November 26, 2007 at 3:15 am
I think both of the discussions (Rumi Bhai’s post & Sidr) concerns interest of Bangladesh.
When London & Coventry were being ruptured by Luftwaffe Bombings in WWII, Churchill was looking for any SIS-Secret Intelligence Service (Today’s MI6, James Bond’s Agency) agent, who can infiltrate to any of U-Boat control units in Germany or Mediterranean.
Deaths & demolitions over London & Coventry had nothing to do with German Navy’s U Boat aggression, but…
Both were concerned to overall British Interest. That what we are doing in Rumi Bhai’s blog.
November 26, 2007 at 3:16 am
I think both of the discussions (Rumi Bhai’s post & Sidr) concerns interest of Bangladesh.
When London & Coventry were being ruptured by Luftwaffe Bombings in WWII, Churchill was looking for any SIS-Secret Intelligence Service (Today’s MI6, James Bond’s Agency) agent, who can infiltrate to any of U-Boat control units in Germany or Mediterranean.
Deaths & demolitions over London & Coventry had nothing to do with German Navy’s U Boat aggression, but…
Both were concerned to overall British Interest. That what we are doing in Rumi Bhai’s blog i guess… interest of Bangladesh.
November 26, 2007 at 4:02 am
Asif, it’s a dangerous slope if we start questioning this or that discussion because there is a calamity. Establishment has always sought to stifle discussion invoking this or that calamity. Yes millions need our help. But that’s no reason not to talk about other issues.
November 26, 2007 at 7:26 am
Okay, apologies folks. Keep discussing. In the last 8 days of fund relief via TV channels in the UK, I couldn’t find a single not faith based organization that were getting relief via TV. These people from various faith based organizations, were out there on the field collecting money, volunteering etc that wins hearts and minds of common people. While, we folks, the so called liberals, are analyzing things ad nauseum. I am sure we all know what is most effective.
November 26, 2007 at 8:38 am
Hear! Hear!
November 26, 2007 at 12:37 pm
I have heard many people saying that by making Bengali as the medium of instruction after the war of liberation the govt. then has taken us back.But i think Madhushudhan Dutta has has proved thorugh his life about the importance of mother tongue.But its sorry tale that we didnt learn.When people say that making Bangla as medium of instruction is the cause of the poor standard of our education,it makes me laughing.Can anyone give me any instance of any nation which has reached in an height of excellence,development leaving behind their mother tongue as burden?i beleive there is no such instance.And there will be no such instance.No nation can can progress neglecting mother tongue.We were taught english by British to produce clerk of British empire.The years of colonial rule has impact on us ,that makes us neglect our mother tongue.if native english speaking nation hear about our love of english compared to our mother tongue they will laught at us,i am sure.
About Yasmin Murhed,i have just one hting to say.”Je shobetey jonmay bongay hingshey bongobani, sheshob kahar jonmo nirnoy naw jani”.she may be borne in india(i dont know as rumi bhai wrote their family came from india).But she was raised in the lap of this Bangla.
When the situation is worsening in the areas affceted by SIDR,govt is playing its games behind the curtain.Someone has criticised the discussion of Bangla vs English in this situation.But look at the govt which is mismanaging the relief work,havnt stopped playing games in this situation.
November 26, 2007 at 12:49 pm
#22
Thank you for bringing us back to reality.
(Full disclosure: I studied in Scholastica)
Rumi bhai,
Had it been Hamida Hossain, Shaheen Anam or the late Salma Sobhan, in place of Mrs. Yasmeen Murshed, how would you have reacted?
Say, you don’t have to consider the actions of any of their forefathers– but as successful women coming from Urdu-speaking backgrounds, do you think that these women should be kept from becoming our ambassador to a key country, given their knowledge of the language, the people and the cultures of Pakistan. (Btw, I used cultures because Pakistani culture is not homogenous, for that matter neither are the people).
The reason I ask is because I’ve always believed that the person who’s appointed Ambassador to a certain country (particularly a political appointee) should
be fully equipped with all aspects of socio-political and economic knowledge about the country they’re being deployed. I’ve also believed that sound knowledge and understanding of one’s natinal politics is also a distinct advantage, as is having good political or social ties in the country of deployment to help build clout. Considering these factors,I think all the women I’ve mentioned qualify for the post, as Ambassador’s of our nation, to bargain, to negotiate and to represent us, despite their ‘non-bengali’ background.
Of all these women, I would pick either Mrs. Yasmeen Murshed or the late Salma Sobhab (RIP) to be ambassadors. Among all four, these two women have (had) the strongest grasp of the political and socio-economic cultures of both nations. But then, I have had the privilege having associated with Mrs. Murshed. I know about her knowledge of matters that pertain to her new role.I also know what she, at Scholastica has taught us.
I know I can’t convince about Mrs.Murshed’s role to ” uplift the nation or to promote the science, economy or culture of Bangladesh to deserve such a rewarding assignment”,
I can scream horse telling you about all the times she reprimanded the snooty children who felt ‘uncomfortable’ in Bangla conversations. You won’t believe me if i told you that she told the ones who failed in Bangla classes that ‘There is no pride in not knowing your mothertongue.’
I really wish you (and other skeptics) could come to an Alumni function of Scholastica, so that you can meet the Scholasticans who still remember Mrs.Murshed telling us at every school graduation ceremony, ‘Please come back to Bangladesh. Go abroad, finish your education, get work experience if you must. But do come back. Your country needs you more than USA or UK’. I wish you would come and meet the Scholasticans who had come back to the country with these words etched in their hearts.
I’m not writing this to undermine the works of many other men/women who have worked for the same cause or elevate Mrs.Y to a higher status. I just wanted to make you see that she really isn’t the Wicked Witch of the (Pro-Jamat-Paki) West that you have made her out to be.
P.S. Wasn’t Mr.Nurul Amin the Chief Minister in 1952 and Mr.Masud the SP of Police? I’ve read different versions of who ‘really’ ordered the police to shoot during different political eras. (forgive me, my schooling happened between 1991-2002)
November 26, 2007 at 12:54 pm
Jyoti bhai,
“And before anyone raises globalisation and the need for English etc – the English syllabus at the HSC level circa 1992-93 used to prepare one perfectly well for any university in the world.”
This system doesnt work proporly. If you’re giving the HSC or SSC under the national curriculum in English, the papers are distributed in the same manners as the Bangla papers. So a teacher of a govt school in gaibandha can end up with the history paper of an English medium SSC candidate. This at times is seen as a barrier to choosing English as the medium of instruction under the National Curriculum.
November 26, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Btw,
Mrs. Murshed didn’t GO to Pakistan to study. She had lived there for most of her life. I doubt if she really had a say in where her family would place her. She moved to Bangladesh after her marriage to a CSP officer. They stayed back in Bangladesh. Mrs.Murshed took lessons in Bangla (in Scholastica we called it Bangla, not Bengali).
Scholastica is now an empire that grew from a small school in Mrs.Y’s garage. Her husband died in the early 80s, during the early years of her school. She CHOSE to stay back in Bangladesh and keep her project here. Her mother and close family still lived in Pakistan. She had the choice of moving base to Karachi where her school would probably get more attention and more recognition.
Bigoto 25 bochore Scholastica te jeishob chele meye ra poreche, tader pokkhe bolchi:
“So, on returning home, she built Dhaka Scholastica school to help the coming generations of Khawaja Nazimuddin keep shunning Bangla. This school will, rather following a school curriculum tailored to the culture, history and sensitivity of Bangladesh, will impose a European curriculum. Although scholastica maintains a tag line of “equal fluency in Bangla” to silence the skeptics like me, the ultimate goal was to send Bangla back to where Nazimuddin thought it belongs, the language of the uncultured, dirt poor peasants and subjects.”
This hurts the sentiments of many among us who are true patriots. We do not like being coined as the ‘coming generations of Khawaja Nazimuddin’.
Apnar ei boktobbe apni amader k, apnar nijer boktobbei ekjon feudalistic manush er chaNche felchen. Apnar ki asholei monehoi je Scholastica’r shob student Bangla bhasha k ‘shun’ kore? Othoba Banglai kotha bolte lojja bodh kore? Naki nijeder matri bhasha k ghrina kore?
amar mone pore na emon kono din ba ghotona jokhon ba jekhane, school e, amader k Bangla bhasha’r obomanona korte shekhano hoyeche. kintu apnar kache amar proshno, Bangla bhasha, deshio shongshkriti k shomman kora, tar chorcha kora shekhanor dayitto ki shudhu school der? naki obhibabok der o kichu kortobbo ache? ami school e ekusher melar kotha onek shunechi, kintu school e shunbar age thekei ami amar baba’r haat dhore ekusher melai giyechi. school e homar/shakespeare porar boyosh hobar agei ami nokshikathat math porechi. amar maa’r dewa boi. bhasha and culture shekhanor dayitto ki school gulor ekar? bangla to amie bashai bolte shikhechi, school e noi. jara aaj english k first language hishebe beche nicche, apnar ki jante icche kore na, ei shob manush ra ki eishob dhan dharona school e ‘shikheche’ naki nijei kono karone udbudho hoye korche?
Lastly, if by representing Bangladesh, by looking after our interests in Pakistan, the most qualified person alive can “will have a soothing life in Pakistan among her kins”, let it be so. She sacrificed those comforts 22years ago so that people such as me could have the best of the world in Bangladesh.
Bangla bhasha, 1952, bhasha andolon and Bangla bhashar itihash, Bangla-medium e educated student der ekar odhikar ba legacy noi. Just because we(or rather our parents on our behalf) chose English as the medium of instruction, don’t think that we don’t absolutely resent the fact that you equate our educational preference to the failure of the 1952 Bhasha Andolon.
November 26, 2007 at 1:17 pm
for blog inspired relief efforts, please check this site
http://www.somewhereinblog.net
November 26, 2007 at 1:53 pm
Before anymore History is created or revisioned, please read:
http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/A_0221.htm
http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/N_0148.htm
Please ekhon Banglapedia’r pechone kono ku-chokro, karchupi, et al. khuje ber koren na. Dhonnobad
November 26, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Fariha
A lot of stuff. Will read them later.
Just to respond to your Nurul Amin issue. In 1952 Nurul Amin was nothing but a provincial chief Minister. He hardly had any real clout over major decisions. Declaring Bangla as state language was a central ( federal) issue. Khawaja Nazimuddin was prime Minister of Pakistan. He was Nurul Amin’s boss. Nurul Amin simply was not in a position to order shooting on agitating students. He as well as his police super simply followed command from the west.
[ One reason Bangladesh was born is the fact that provincil governmnet had no power or decision making capacity. For everything east Pakistan had to look at central government at west pakistan.]
BTW, I thought you are rebutting on behalf of your teacher, Yasmin Morshed. Why suddenly you started defending Khawaja Nazimuddin?
November 26, 2007 at 6:30 pm
Xanthis bhai,
I am not denying any dirty deeds of scholasticans. I am just saying it seems scholasticans are being held to a higher moral code than the rest of society. As anyone from dhaka knows amateur porn is made by a lot of people most of them adults, not just scholasticans. however it makes news only wen scholasticans do something like this. is that fair?
fariha,
You are being unfair to rumi bhai. He has already clarified to me what the thrust of his post is about. you can check the other comments
even as a former student, i agree with him completely, in an ideal world mrs. murshed should not be sent to pakistan. but we do not live in an ideal world. we live in bangladesh. a country where the government has no pride in its foreign embassies or its image, but is ready to sacrifice everyone inside because of bhabmoorthi. (there, scholastican unpatriotism 🙂 )
in this country glorious country of ours, sending an urdu-speaker wihthout any diplomatic experience to pakistan is what the government does, but now you are trying to justify it in terms of her knowledge of the country. Sorry fariha, that is not how it should be. Murshed’s crdentials as someone who knows the national interest and has upheld it in the face of adversity is what counts, not her knowledge of pakistan and its cultures and its peoples.
moreover, of all countries in the world, pakistan has a special position in relation to bangladesh. we have a history of disturbed co-existence where they tried to make us like them, at times demeaning our culture and dehumanising our people. if you think the rationale of sending an urdu-speaker there does not play into the nagative self-image that bengalis have of themselves vis a vis pakistan, then you are sadly msitaken. the first thing we need to ensure is that, that we don’t project the wrong image to pakistan. send the biggest awami leager to pakistan nd the biggest bnp-er to india i say!
November 27, 2007 at 4:51 am
#31
Harry K Thomas spoke fluent Bangla. The departing Chinese Ambassador speaks fluent Bangla too. Anwarul H Chowdhury, the British High Commissioner, well, he doesnt speak Bangla, but has Bangladeshi roots and family.The Bangladeshi Ambassador to China, Mr.Munshi Fayez, former ambassador to Singapore, is fluent in Chinese.
Remember, knowing the language of the host country, understanding its politics and culture, give every diplomatic mission head a distinct advantage when managing strategic partnerships. This is particularly true for Pakistan, because of our torrid relationship with them, that is already shrouded in mistrust.
I COMPLETELY DISAGREE with you on the qualifications of an Ambassador, particularly a political appointee. POlitical appointees don’t usually have diplomaic experience. They need to have political experience and should understand the interests of his/her own government. I think Mrs.YM has that ground extensively covered. Moreover, she is smart, well-versed, well-read and intelligent. She would not have to depend on second or third hand accounts because she’s well-versed in Bangladeshi and Pakistani culture, language and politics. She’s sure to represent the best of Bangladesh to them, as she had to us, her students. MOreover, her knowledge of Pakistan and her ties there will ensure that she able to create clout (take example of Anwar Chow who mingles freely with his Bangladeshi associates or Harry K Thomas who would go out and spend a day at the DS office).In my experience I have seen that a lot of Bangladeshi (career) diplomats know and learn little about the host country’s culture during their stay and are usually not taken seriously by host country officials. But then, that has been my experience.
Sending an (hard-core or bonafied)Awami Leaguer to Pakistan and BNP to India will only worsen already delicate relationships. We need diplomats– educated, intelligent people, who can build and sustain strategic relationships with neighbouring countries and look after our interests.
Mrs.M is was perhaps the wrong choice as an advisor. BNP should not have tried to make her a public figure holding a public office.But she’s perhaps the most perfect choice for the post that she has been assigned now. I have yet to see you assign one quality to her that would make her a bad diplomat or head of mission.Don’ dismiss this lady till you’ve actually seen her in action, as an Ambassador to Pakistan. That’s all I ask.
November 27, 2007 at 6:41 am
[…] Posted by xanthis on November 25, 2007 Ambassador story 1: Yasmin Morshed to represent Bangla Desh […]
November 27, 2007 at 5:46 pm
#32
if i was not clear before, i am against political appointees at all. it is a tragedy for bangladesh that they exist in the first place.
i agree with you that people knowing the language of the country they are posted in helps. that is why you train a diplomatic staff in that as well. harry k thomas is a career diplomat as are most of the others you have cited.
and i am very sorry to hear that you do not agree with my criteria for choosing diplomats. well no loss there. it is not like they are really doing a good job upholding the national interest abroad either.
fixing bangladesh and pakistan problems on our terms is what i want. a solution according to their terms is still a solution. to give an extreme example and not one mrs. murshed would condone: calling the liberation war “operation searchlight” in all deshi history texts might be a solution for our different views of history, but not acceptable to me as a bangladeshi. thanks.
November 27, 2007 at 5:55 pm
[…] a lot I have had a lot of thoughts about but just no time to write. Rumi bhai’s two posts scrutinizing the recent ambassadorial appointments were ones where I want to say a lot on. […]
November 28, 2007 at 4:43 am
[…] hope, and resolve Filed under: disaster — jrahman @ 8:43 pm Fellow blogger Asif said this the other […]
November 28, 2007 at 10:10 pm
Rumi Bhai,
One point you have forgot to mention I feel.
This Yasmin Morshed was one adviser of Cabinet
of Iaz Uddin. I failed to understand how she accepted the post which is bellow on her previous designation. Do they like demotion?
Bit Funny.
November 30, 2007 at 10:23 pm
Faria,
Very impressed with your jukti-torko.Please keep it up.
And once again endorse what’bitterboy’ write about this thread..” I’m dismayed to read this present thread. What he tried here is a kind of demagogy, an attempt to emotionalize readers or swell up them with spurious pride of culture. This thread tells about dystopic or myopic vision.”
November 30, 2007 at 10:51 pm
Sorry for the late response. Was busy otherwise.
Fariha, you are totally wrong in the way you qualify an ambassador.
What Anwar Chowdhury did in Bangladesh is not diplomacy, that is colonialism inspired conspiracy.
And by justifyinh Mrs Morshed’s appointment, you are deliberately undermining the capability of our smart diplomatic corps. Who says that to know a language, you have to speak that language for the last 14 generations. All our diplomats gets a very workable language training before their posting. And, if needed, they can speak any language.
Plus, lately Embassy jobs require more expertise in handling the poor blue color work force, understand their problems and try to fix them. I don’t know how Mrs Morshed will interact with the hundred thousand domestic and construction workers of Bangladesh origin.
And lastly, in this globalized world, to land good business deal or anything better, you don’t need to send an emissery to that country. Those are done, now a days, by specialized bodies like BOI, trade mission, telephone, video conferencing, telephone negotiations etc.
December 1, 2007 at 1:45 pm
Rumi bhai,
Let’s establish one thing first. I am NOT in favor in political appointees. I’ve always believed that they tend to serve the interests of a govt, not a nation. I have been disappointed in the ‘quality’ of some of our diplomatic corps, but by no means do I doubt their ‘capabilities’. A lot of them are lacking in certain departments (please meet our brethren qued up in front of BD embassy in Kuala Lumpur waiting to have at least one member of the diplomatic corp hear one of them out). However, by no means are they non-well-trained or non-smart.
That being said, I was not justifying her ‘appointment’. I have little faith in the current govt and I am most definitely not going to defend their intentions behind certain diplomatic appointments. What I was trying to do, was make you see that Mrs.Murshed isn’t the Bangla-hating, elitist, capitalist fanatic you’ve made her out to be. I hope you don’t misunderstand that again as a defense of her ‘appointment’. I’m just defending her qualifications. I don’t know why the CTG appointed her. I just refuse to concede that she’s all wrong for the post.
Secondly, let me give you a little insight. Mrs.Murshed handles ‘blue-collar’ workers better than many powerful men and women in similar positions. She’s empathetic to their plight and helps them grow.
On the first working day after Sidr, I watched in admiration as she asked the ‘peons’, drivers and guards of her office in Mohakhali about their families. She remembers where each of them are from and how many other ppl are their in the family. There are at least 20 peons and buas who have served her for over 15 years. Her old driver, who was encouraged and mentored by her, is currently an administrator in her org.
Lastly, with regards to business apex bodies, BOI and trad missions, I’m sorry, I don’t have much faith in them either, but then that’s a whole different kettle of fish. Let’s leave that tea-cup for another day.
December 1, 2007 at 2:14 pm
That sounds fair Fariha.
December 2, 2007 at 9:35 am
“To evaluate a person, first check out that how that person behaves his sub ordinates”
December 4, 2007 at 10:30 am
friends,
I humbly request you to be focused.
The point is simple: Yasmin Morshed has got no credibility to be appointed as the High Commissioner.
Now her family background has got nothing to do with her economic venture. There are hundreds of Engligh medium school in Dhaka, and not all the founders are relatives of Mazimuddin.
And if this lady is responsible for all the activities of scholastica students, then as a former student of DU, I do not hesitate to tell that DU VC is also similarly responsible for many criminal activities in the campus (which even included rape in one Hall). VCs in various regimes were/are surrounded by cadres.
I have just no taste for arguing in favour of Yasmin Morshed. I am not pro-english medium education as well. I am dead against of the appointment of Yasmin Morshed. But we need to be focus when we present a case. That’s what I have got to say.
December 4, 2007 at 7:10 pm
Rumi Bhai,
Do you have any substantive research to establish the link between Yasmin Morshed’s family background and the establishment of Scholastica? If not, then you should withdraw that part as a matter of courtesy.
Many people are sending their kids to schoalstica, and it is not that everyone hate bangla or somehow connected to paksitani folks. For your kind information, Golam Azam, the notorious Razakar, also took active part in the language movement. But does it mean that all his relatives as welll as he himself are very much fan of Bangali culture!!!!!
I think we have a bad habit of linking everything to family background. That’s why the comment of Sheikh hassina, when she was taken to court immediately after her arrest was that: “I am not from any ordinary family”…… that gives a snap of our culture!!! Please think over it.
December 4, 2007 at 8:54 pm
Re #43 and #44
The family relationship here is very clear.
Mr Khawaja Nazimuddin was the leader of Pakistan central government which opposed students demand for Bangla as state language in 1952 and killed protesting students.
Mr Nazimuddin’s family, 4-5 generations down, still refuse to accept Bangla as their main language although they lived in an overwhelmingly monolinguistic Bangla envirinment.
Keeping with the tradition, Ms Morshed, also did train in URdu rather in Bnagla. And on returning to Bangla she sets up a powerful english medium school.
And now she is going to represent a country called ‘Bangla’ Desh.
December 4, 2007 at 11:21 pm
Re#45
Rumi vai,
Still I do not see any family connection. I believe the establishment of Scholastica was for economic venture, while not denying her fascination for Urdu. And about the parents who send their parents to Scholastica, I do not think they do it for their hatred to Bangla. It is all about economic value, and in this materialistic world, it prevails over every other thing.
Your way of writing ‘Bangla’ Desh looks awful, for I work-experience with our indigenous communities of the CHT. They have serious problem with this ‘bangla’ Desh which does not respect much the language of its minority groups.
The spirit of the Languaeg movement not Bangla, rather the right to speak and use mother language. Not put a Chakma boy in that position, and try to feel like him. Your way of writing “Bangla’ Desh will hurt him equally as the Punjabis did us!!
January 3, 2008 at 10:25 am
yes, there might be no justification for her appointment but saying that Mrs Murshed’s ulterior motive is to send us back to the dark ages is ultimately a retarded, ignorant statement. As a former scholastican, I agree that yes, this school has become this greed driven conglomerate but i strongly disagree that it was instituted to “relegate” bengali. Just saying stuff like that makes you, Rumi sound insecure and bitter. You werent there when the fat lady cried about how no one comes back to the country. Believe me, I strongly abhor this whole Ascent Ltd thing… its just not right to run an educational institutional like a fortune 500 but my point is, when she cried, there was sincerity there. She wanted the masses to get a proper education – her logic was that rather than 200 people getting a class A education, if 2000 can get a class B education, its better. The motive is there, the implementation is utter shite… and will get crappier now that her useless son is in charge. Our motive was to go to America..she wanted us to come back and apply it towards the improvement of bangladesh.. you could see the sheer frustration in her eyes when she expressed her helplessness over this whole ‘brain drain’. So yes, she is a greedy pig – I agree but to bring in this whole razakar angle into this undermines not her credibility but yours. You sound like an idiot, sir.
January 3, 2008 at 11:53 am
#47
Where did you see razakaar angle in this post? Is there any mention of razakar anywhere? Before blabber mouthing rubbishes against others, try to read the post. And I know scholastica does not teach all the filthy languages you depended on in your comment. That must come from your family. So go back to your family, correct yourself and stop jumping like ‘ Chhagoler tin nombor Bachcha”.
January 3, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Dear Rumi,
My father is a muktijoddha. My uncle was in prison for dissent during ’71. And yet it was this Uncle of mine who insisted i study in an English medium school, and not just any school, this tiny little school called Scholastica. This was way back in 1983, when i joined in class 1. I stayed with scholastica as we grew together and finally left after a’levels in 1994.
In all this time i learned a lot about Bangladesh and our culture from my school. Was it enough? Probably not. i just know that i never once felt i was in an anti-Bangla or anti-Bangladesh atmosphere.
Not only did we have a strong grounding in Bangla, we repeatedly won awards in national essay competitions like the Ekushey Essay competition.
So please do not ridicule my school. I believe it was a good school, and i’m it still is.
As for the medium of study, i do believe English is the way to go simply because that is the global language, it is the language of advancement in science, arts and economics. We can only ignore it at our peril.
Look at india. Indians have tremendous pride in their nation and their culture. At the same time most of their schools are English medium. Is that having any negative effects on their culture? or their society? In the grand scheme of things, i think not. The difference between us and the Indians is that they have realized the importance of English as the global language and at the same time have been reinventing their own language. So there is a harmonious growth.
Thats what we need. A balance. A harmony. Not random put downs of my old principal and and my old school.
January 3, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Oh God… I knew the word razakar would come back to haunt me. You had to go for that word didnt you? This Shakib guy actually sums up my thoughts pretty well… you have to understand Rumi that since this blog was brought to my attention, it means people have read it and given it some attention and the sad part is that this also means that there are people out there who actually want to believe the garbage you wrote, having read the comments. Ironic part is – you are crucifying her for the only good quality she has, for being a pioneer…so dont go for the lame ‘you use foul language’ defense. I hate to say this and I cant believe I am defending Mrs Murshed but you didnt go to Scholastica so you really dont have a clue what you’re talking about. Think about what you’re doing – by sitting on your hight chair, eating american apple pie and being a typical ignorant hater, you’re actually lambasting one of a tiny handful of bangladeshis who took an initiative to do something decent for the country.
Hate on her for leveraging her influence to become an ambassador… hate on her for leveraging this whole education for the masses thing to make money… but dont sit there and say she tried to relegate bengali and that we have a “generation of kids who would rather converse in english amongst themselves”.
I think you made an interesting observation with her background and all but you injected a whole lot of bias in your post.
January 3, 2008 at 9:17 pm
“This school will, rather following a school curriculum tailored to the culture, history and sensitivity of Bangladesh, will impose a European curriculum. ”
Mr. Rumi, this is an incorrect statement. If you have never been to Scholastica, I am not sure how you can make such a statement. I went to Scholastica and we had a curriculum based on O’level standard and that included Bangla which was mandatory for all students.
“Although scholastica maintains a tag line of “equal fluency in Bangla” to silence the skeptics like me, the ultimate goal was to send Bangla back to where Nazimuddin thought it belongs, the language of the uncultured, dirt poor peasants and subjects.”
We were basically an English medium school but that never meant that we are taught that Bangla was language of the uncultured dirt or peasants. I admit there might be people who might think speaking English is more of a fashion statement than speaking Bangla however, I met students from Bangla medium who spoke “Banglish” so that they sounded like the English medium students.
I am not sure from your article whether you are upset at Scholasticans or Mrs Murshed or English medium students. I think you need to be more focused and not make statements without any concrete evidence.
January 4, 2008 at 12:55 am
Sakib, “ex-scholastican” and the garbage mongering “come on dude”..
I feel sorry for you folks in your failure to grab the message of the blog. And you folks (I am not saying you all scholasticians) miserably failed to sense the spirit of 1952 and pride of winning back the right to speak in mother tongue at the cost of blood. Our nation is built on that spirit, if you care to know.
As said before, it was neither an opinion on Eglish VS Bangla medium nor it was a criique of Yasmin Murshed or her business.
Sure you will have Bangla teachers. It’s a school for Gods sake. But who says that O level curriculum is based on the policies set by Bangladesh government?
The problem is much deep, I hope you will be able to grab it. Remember Nazimuddin who actively opposed Bangla and is responsible for killing the students demanding Bangla. Nazimuddin family, four generations later, living in the middle of an overwhelmingly Bangla environment, remains hell bent to keep up Urdu as their principle language. A daugher of this family, returns to BD after education in Urdu and pioneers an English medium school.
It does not need any further explanation to question the basic intention of this effort.
And garbage mongering ” Come on dude”, can’t you be a little bit positive? Why you have to hate? Why can’t you simply discuss? A blog is a persons opinion. You definitely are welcome to debate. But you will not be allowed to destroy the decency of a debate by filthy rampant bickering.