Masum Billah :
Everyday newspapers appear before us with the news of teacher harassment, humiliation and assaulting on them either by committee members or local political leaders or student leaders. Teachers have been receiving honour in our society and we harbour this culture since long. The western people don’t have such culture to honour the teachers the way we do but beating a teacher or assaulting on them goes beyond their imagination. What have we started breaking our age old culture? The worse is, the society and state seem to support it silently any drastic action is hardly taken against the culprits.
The society and state must ensure the professional dignity, socio-economic security with a veiw to attracting really deserving candidates to this significant profession as it is the only place to train the future generation to be honest, dedicated and patriotic. In no way we can afford it to neglect or ignore. The continuous and recently held some incidents against the teachers in some parts of the country baffle us and engage us to think where we are heading to. What will happen to our future generation? What will happen to our future state when the future leaders of the country have taken such heinous steps against teachers who are dedicated to nation building? Let me site some examples of these ills. On 13 April 2022 the principal of Gaibandha Government College found several young boys were driving motor bike and playing music with shrill sound in the college campus. He asked them not to do it and leave the campus that made ruffians infuriated who assaulted on the principal and beat him. How dare these ruffians are! Where do they get such brutal incentives from? Teachers are the leaders and guardians of the society, not the teachers only in the classroom. When some teachers want to play their due role, they are threatened and attacked by the rascals and the society just witness these crimes silently! This does not show any good sign.
On 30 March Jatir Pita Bangabandbhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Government College, Shariatpur conducted examination for fourth year students of Bengali department an in honour of the external examiners and the previous head of the department a dish was arranged when the examination was over. The president of the student wing of the college along with 20-25 students attached the teachers and at one point they started beating and kicking a lecturer. Their fault was they did not receive invitation from the teachers. Not only that, such type of students at different parts of the country want to adopt unfair means in the examination without any protest from the teachers and they receive support from the so called local leaders otherwise they would not dare to do it. And this is why if any teacher stands against it or tries to protest it, he/she has to face severe form of harassment, humiliation and physical torture by the students. Thus the honour of teachers has been downtrodden because of the influence of nasty politics that severely discourages meritorious candidates to come to teaching. Teachers who are already in service have started losing their interest and are in constant fear of losing their honour and self respect. The entire society and state must give serious importance to this fact and stand by the teachers to save the nation for impending danger.
The recent story of Hridoy Mondol who had been in jail for 19 days and got released on 10 April has jerked the nation because of the false and implicated cases against the teachers. He was charged of blasphemy. The entire story was planned and purposive, no doubt. When we found that Hridoy Mondol was coming out of the jail through a narrow door bowing down his head, which indicates the entire teaching community’s bowing down their head to the ruffians of the society that must not be allowed to happen in the greater interest of the nation.
Several days back I saw on facebook that one madrasa teacher wearing traditional long dress had been beaten by a giant figure man in the open field which was being witnessed by many people surrounding a field. These incidents just remind us what is happening around us in the society? What has happened to the society that teachers have been beaten on time and occasion here and there in the country and general mass just witness it? The society and state seem to be playing the role of silent spectators. Do our teachers deserve it?
Many things are discussed in our National Assembly. I want to request the lawmakers to make a law in the country that nobody should take law in their own hands in respect of any case with teachers, whatever powerful they are. If somebody wants to do it, it will be treated as a serious crime and if anybody does it, immediate action must be taken against them first by the local law and enforcing agencies and then in the state court. The incidents we have been witnessing prove the sign of a rotten society. We must start from somewhere else to stop this rotting. Let us start from here – stopping teacher harassment. We must shun any politics here. Just take it as a big national issue where the interest of our future generation gets involved.
(Masum Billah is Country Director, Volunteers Association for Bangladesh and President, English Teachers’ Association of Bangladesh).
