Fine Arts students of Dhaka University painting alpana -- decorative motifs -- at the foot of the Central Shaheed Minar in the city yesterday ahead of the International Mother Language Day tomorrow. On this day, the nation will remember those who laid down their lives in 1952 to establish Bangla as the state language. The Pakistani government had unilaterally wanted to declare Urdu as the state language ignoring the majority Bangalis and their language. Several students were shot dead on February 21 when they came out in processions to protest the attempt. Photo: Anisur Rahman
Indigenous students of class-I attending a lecture on Mro, their mother tongue, at Dewai Headman Para Govt Primary School in Bandarban on Tuesday. Schoolteachers volunteer to teach as Mro is not included in their syllabus. Locals say many primary students drop off as they find studying in Bangla a daunting task. Photo: Sanjoy Kumar Barua
Abdul Quader Bhasani, 88, is an inspirational figure for all. He actively took part in the language movement in 1952, and was incarcerated and harassed by police then. A constant companion of Majlum Jananeta Moulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani, Abdul Quader became a central committee member of the National Awami Party (Nap-Bhashani) and was given the title 'Bhasani' by Moulana Bhasani himself in 1960. At his Lalmonirhat home, he works on his farmland every day, and is held in high esteem by the villagers. "I will never forget Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani's advice of loving this country ... I still continue to do that," he says. Photo: S Dilip Roy
A student of the Faculty of Fine Arts of Dhaka University writes, “I am a Bangalee, Bangla is my country, Bangla is my language”, on a wall near the Central Shaheed Minar in the capital yesterday ahead of International Mother Language Day on February 21. Photo: Anisur Rahman
A tired mother and her two children fall asleep on a rickshaw taking them back home after school, apparently a sign of the increasing stress put on such young minds through lessons and the pressure parents have to take to wake up in the early hours to prepare them for classes. The photo was taken near Shikkha Bhaban in the capital on Thursday. Photo: Anisur Rahman
