Reading fest enthuses learners

It was a unique event for around 5,000 school students as they joined a reading festival, going through the writings on the Liberation War simultaneously at Bhagalpur in Bajitpur upazila of Kishoreganj yesterday.

The upazila administration organised the hour-long programme starting at 11:20am at Bhagalpur's Nazim Bhuiyan Primary School ground.

The students of classes VI to X from 19 schools of the upazila took part in the festival and read out stories on the assigned topics from their textbooks.

Some 300 teachers and 400 scouts assisted the event where 1500 benches were set to accommodate the participating children.

"I and other teachers of my institution joined the educative event with some 1250 students," said Selina Akhter, principal of Aftab Uddin School and College.

Swapnil Aurjon Argha, an SSC examinee, and Orthi, a Class VIII student of the institution, said they will bear the rare experience of the event for long.

"We organised the programme, first of its kind in the region, to create reading habit among the students," said Baskar Debnath Bappy, upazila nirbahi officer of Bajitpur.

"The area is a comparatively backward one and three out of 11 unions of the upazila comprise haor areas. Reading habit among the young people can help develop creativity among them, and eventually serve as catalyst for a better change of the area," he said.

Marking the programme, a discussion was held, where Dhaka Divisional Commissioner Helaluddin Ahmed was the chief guest.

Kishoreganj Deputy Commissioner Md Azimuddin Biswas, Bajitpur Upazila Parishad Chairman Sarwar Alam and Bajitpur municipality Mayor Anwar Hossain Ashraf attended there as special guests.

Through such reading festivals, the students will get a chance to be a part of the present competitive world, the speakers said at the meeting.

Now is the high time to bring back the children to the world of real learning, instead of making them run after so-called fabulous results, they said.

Suggesting that such events be spread all over the country for quality education and development of creativity, they said a “Book Reading Day” can be introduced in the country to promote reading habit among the students and the people in general.