Mahfuz Anam on the importance of extracurricular activities

Mahfuz Anam, Editor and Publisher of The Daily Star, was actively involved in extracurricular activities, particularly debating, during his youth.  He associates those experiences with various episodes of his life. He spoke about the many characteristics of extracurricular activities and shared his experiences from Notre Dame College, Dhaka University, and the Liberation War of Bangladesh, at Midas Financing Limited Presents Campus Club Summit 2020. The two-day event was a joint initiative of Midas Financing Limited, The Daily Star and Excellence Bangladesh, with Star Youth, The Daily Star, as the youth engagement partner.

Mahfuz Anam mentioned that as an avid debater, he has always been a man of logic and fact. He shared his interpretation of the importance of different club activities during his keynote session at the event. The moderator, Tanjim Ferdous, National Consultant of the United Nations in Bangladesh, through his integrated questionnaire, tried to emphasise on the relationship between Mahfuz Anam's extracurricular activities, his life choices and his profession.

While appreciating the participation of different clubs from all across the nation in this summit, Mahfuz Anam shared how extracurricular activities are very different now, than how they were during his youth.

Debating was the first extracurricular activity that he took up, while he was studying at Notre Dame University in 1965, when his teacher, Azhar Ali, asked the students to join the debate club after school. He reminisced on how right after his first 'for the motion' debate speech, his teacher appreciated his words, and said that he had only five minutes to come up with the 'against the motion' speech.

"Logical thinking, playing with facts and real information, using easy and unambiguous words to explain things, and communicating through personality and body language are the key skills I learned from debating," said Mahfuz Anam. He further asserted that these major qualities are important while communicating with teachers, employers and even loved ones.

In the mid 1960s, during his college life at Notre Dame, he participated in East Pakistan Inter University Debate Competition and stood first twice in a row. Right before the Liberation War, he participated in the Hall Pakistan Debate Competition while he was studying Economics at DU. He remained undefeated thrice in a row, by securing the first position every time. As a freedom fighter, he travelled to many Muslim provinces of India and delivered spirited speeches backed by logical explanations, news stories and facts. During this time, he came up with the slogan, "We have won the battle of the ballot. We will definitely win the battle of the bullet."

A major part of the conversation was related to the importance of extracurricular activities in the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971. Art students, writers, poets, and singers expressed their rage through their different creations, spreading hope among freedom fighters and citizens. Our independence was a united effort of numerous practitioners of extracurricular activities, shared Mahfuz Anam during the session.

Apart from debating, he was also the General Secretary of Mohsin Hall and an active member of a book club. He also mentioned that a healthy lifestyle is the key to keeping a balance between everything one does. "There are different worlds out there, occupied by artists, musicians, writers, poets, engineers, scientists and others. You cannot be a resident of all worlds, but based on your skills, you will learn to succeed in a specific few worlds. However, you must have general knowledge about all the fields," expressed Mahfuz Anam.

He concluded the session by stating that life itself is our greatest gift, and as long as we are alive, we must learn to live in the most worthy way possible.