Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina once again showed her immense love and affection for children with disabilities as she chose their paintings to prepare her Pahela Baishakh greeting cards.
“Like the previous occasions, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has selected paintings of children with disabilities to prepare the Pahela Baishakh greeting cards for Bangla new year 1424,” PM’s Deputy Press Secretary Ashraful Alam Khokan told BSS on Wednesday.
“This time she has selected paintings of six disabled children to make the Pahela Baishakh greeting cards. It once again demonstrated her immense love and affection for the challenged children,” he said.
The children are: Ashhab Munim Chowdhury, son of Md Naimul Islam Chowdhury of South Kalyanpur, Dhaka; Ibrahim Khalil, son of Hazi Mohammad Jashim Uddin of Keraniganj in Dhaka; Isaba Hafiz, daughter of Shahjahan Hafiz of Banani DOHS, Dhaka; Md Rahat, son of Mohammad Ali, Katashur, Mohammadpur in Dhaka; Mosammat Abida Sultana (Shanta), daughter of Alamgir Hossain of Dakkhinbagh, Kaliganj, Gazipur; and Suma Das, daughter of Nirapad Das of Madhya Katia village under Sadar upazila in Satkhira.
The PM’s deputy press secretary said before 2010, the Prime Minister used to send greeting cards prepared with the paintings of professional artistes.
She first started sending greeting cards prepared with the paintings of children with disabilities during Eid-ul-Azha in 2010.
From that year, the Prime Minister has been sending greeting cards prepared with the paintings of disabled children to people concerned on different occasions like Eid, Bangla Nababarsha and English New Year.
Khokan said the greeting cards were earlier prepared with the art works of “intellectually-challenged” children and they were selected from only Dhaka through the Department of Social Service. This arrangement continued till 2013, he said.
But from Eid-ul-Fitr in 2014, the “physically-challenged” children who have the hobby of painting and are living outside Dhaka were also included in the arrangements, the deputy press secretary said.
He said, earlier Taka 3 lakh was allocated for the purpose and one or two disabled children were selected. Now the allocation has been increased and more disabled children are being selected on every occasion for their paintings to prepare the greeting cards.
Khokan said the prime minister herself selects the paintings of the children with disabilities. For Pahela Baishakh of 1424, she chose paintings of six disabled children and each of them would be given Taka 1 lakh for it, he added.
Those who are selected once won’t be chosen for the next time, he said, adding that this provision has been made so that more children with disabilities could be selected for this purpose.
The deputy press secretary said paintings of 94 disabled children have so far been selected to prepare the greeting cards of the Prime Minister since 2010.
Talking to BSS, Shirin Hafiz, mother of Ishaba Hafiz, whose art work was selected for making Pahela Baishakh greeting cards of 1424 for the premier, said she is very delighted as their daughter’s painting was used in the Prime Minister’s greeting cards.
“We’re very happy and grateful to the prime minister for using our daughter’s painting in her greeting cards,” she said.
Shirin Hafiz said her daughter who suffers from autism first time took part in a painting competition organized by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University in this year’s Independence and National Day.
