The New Nation - Internet Edition

Taking care of street children

A MOVE was started in the eighties by the then government to create facilities for proper care of the street children. Efforts were made to educate and house them and provide for their upbringing. These unfortunate children who used to be called tokais (rag pickers) as this was mainly their means of a livelihood with veritably no support from their parents or the state, were renamed as pathakalis ( flower buds of the streets) and a trust was organised for them. But this move ended with the change of government since the nineties. The project gradually turned defunct for lack of interest on the part of the government.

Had it continued, it could prove to be a major contributor to easing a socio-economic problem of serious dimensions. The rootless children grow up unloved and uncared for and become easily the victims of crime, anti socials activities, drug addiction and other vices. But it could be the opposite happy experience if measures were taken over the years-- systematically and progressively--to rehabilitate all of them with a view to making them normal and productive individuals. There is no reason why the project that was started in the eighties, cannot again be revived.

The incumbent caretaker government now has no time to start and complete this task. But they can at least draw fresh attention to it and leave behind a well formulated plan for the next elected government to take up. With the government playing a good supportive role behind it, there are good reasons to think that there are many individuals and organisations who may be keen to lend assistance to such a programme. They only need to be sensitised and invited to join in such a noble endeavour.

Boro procurement

THE procurement of Boro rice is yet to reach the target set by the government though the timeframe was extended by two months from the scheduled deadline of August 31. The target set for rice was 12 lakh tonnes but the food department has so far procured some 9.25 lakh tonnes. Besides rice, it could procure only 44,900 tonnes of Boro paddy against the set target of 3 lakh tonnes. The target for procurement of rice and paddy both could not be achieved though the government increased the timeframe for the second time till October 31. The government first set the procurement price of rice at Tk 28 per kilogram for rice and Tk 18 per kilogram for paddy on April 16 with the launching of the drive.

The price announced at the beginning of the drive was more than 40 per cent above the production cost and still had been providing 'incentive bonus' for the millers following their demand as they supplied grain to the government under an order issued to fulfil the target. Officials however admitted that the government announced incentives could not help achieve the procurement target set for both Boro rice and paddy.

The flash flood and the high price of rice that in international market and its spillover effect in the domestic market made farmers reluctant to sell their grains to the millers who worked in the field for the government. The drive, in fact, got a jolt in the midway mainly because of inefficient handling vis-à-vis global spiraling of food prices. The government had to increase the procurement price and provide incentives to the suppliers for maintaining a balance and could stock at least nearly a million tonnes of grains.

Poor quality of private teachers training colleges

Md. Masum Billah

A dark picture has revealed teacher training colleges when a survey was conducted by the ministry of education. The ministry of education found that 89 private TT Colleges and 6 private universities out of a total of 100 such institutions are unfit to offer training courses, especially for B. Ed. and M.Ed. So, it was found that almost all private teachers training colleges are incompetent and allegedly engaged in selling certificates. Government has yet to take any action against these institutions which has contributed a great deal to the deterioration of teacher training. When teacher training stands on this weak and fragile base, the standard of education throughout the country is bound to see an abject stage. "Quality teachers are needed for ensuring quality education in the country. But how can we expect quality teachers when anyone can easily get certificates with good results from private TT Colleges or universities even without attending classes, doing assignment and receiving practical training."-professor Taslima Begum, Dhaka TT College principal commented. A committee led by Education Joint Secretary Shafiullah investigated the activities of TT Colleges from May 2006 to March 2007 and found a lot of irregularities.

Most of the time private TT Colleges remain closed, the rooms are dark dusty and most of the prices of furniture are broken. The need for huge number of trained teachers and the weak monitoring and establishing policy of National University have made the scope to sprung up these private TT colleges in every nook and corner of the country. No measure to ensure quality has further given it scope to run the classes in rented houses in market place or commercial buildings which have absolutely failed to cater to the needs of the time. "The trainers of the government Teacher Training Colleges need to write and submit 28 assignments during their training whereas, the private TT Colleges don't maintain any such criteria. Their teachers collect the assignments from nearest government Teachers Training Colleges and give those to their trainees who just copy and submit those to their authorities" One teacher of. Dhaka TT College said. This is because private TT Colleges need only students, quality is a matter of second or third importance to them. If their number of students stands less, their income will shrink. So, they hardly give pressure to the learners. The easier ways to get certificates ensures admission of more teachers.

The committee divided the colleges into four categories such as yellow, green, red and grey.Red indicates the worst performing and worst situaion, grey poor condition, yellow medium quality and green well performing TT Colleges. Seven colleges have been marked red, 33 yellow, 5 private and 14 public colleges earned green. The Committee recommended that the National University should cancel the red-marked institutions,-colleges of Education at Jahlakathi, Patuakhali Teachers Training College, Dakkhinbanga Teachers Training College, Patuakhali DakkhanTeachers Training College in Moukaran in Patuakhaki, College of Education , Barisal, Pirojpur Teachers Training College and College of Education , Comilla. Six private universities also provide B.Ed. degree and their quality is extremely low .

Eastern university, Shanta Mariam University, Asian University, World University, Northern University and Uttara University. Education Ministry issued an order in September 2007 stating that outer campuses of the private university cannot offer B.Ed degree but none is paying any heed. The existing teacher training colleges cannot afford to hold the increasing number of students. Hence, the private sector colleges have sprung up hither and thither sprawling from the city of the Dhaka to the small towns of the country. These institutions have taken permission from the National University. Now they get the threat of closure.

The emergence of private universities in our educational arena responds to the needs of the time actually. The limited seats of public universities in comparison to the increasing number of students of the country, unavoidable session jam, lengthy academic year and above all serious political turmoil in the campus led the authorities concerned and the government to give rise to private universities. Every opportunity has its loopholes and taking this advantage many private universities have mushroomed hither and thither of the country seriously undermining the standard of higher education. The situation also casts a slur on the spur and reputation of already established private universities.

A roundtable discussion on corruption in the public universities ordained by Transparency International Bangladesh on February 8, 2007 in Dhaka, attracted wide public attention and added a new dimension to the critical observations on the state of affairs in the public universities. The TIB roundtable specially focused on corruption perpetrated in our public universities, most of the issues on the problem of efficient management of these institutions came up for discussion.

Mismanagement, abuse of autonomy given to major public universities under the 1973 university ordinance, corruption and of course, teachers' and student's politics are posing threat to quality higher education. One of the reasons for the mushrooming of private universities in the country is not only the incapability of the public universities to develop and expand, but also the further deterioration. However, with few exceptions, the growth of private universities has not been very healthy and is yet to become a viable alternative to public universities.

M. Mozammel Haq, president of Private Teachers Training College Teachers Association denied the allegations and said selling certificates in these institutions is not true. "The government should not create any discrimination between public and private TT Colleges. Teachers of government TT colleges receive modern training regularly and even go abroad but we don't get such opportunities .We request the government to provide special training for us to improve our quality." This is true. Government alone cannot afford to train a huge number of teachers within a particular period of time. The help and cooperation of private TT colleges is a must to bring all the teachers under training programme. Without training, no teacher can conduct effective and fruitful classes with some possible exceptions. Yes, private TT colleges don't have infra-structure and their training is of very poor quality. Still the trainees get some messages which they can disseminate in their teaching. Again, through private TT colleges teachers can receive their training near their working area and homes. Leaving home our rural teachers hardly can afford receiving training at a government TT College which lie far away from their residences. They are to follow many rules and regulations there but in a private TT college they don't have to undergo such hard and fast rule. In spite of this pragmatic fact, the quality cannot be compromised in the greater interest of education and nation. So, some particular criteria to be set which will be followed by all the Private TT Colleges mandatory but things should be taken into consideration that they cannot satisfy the same conditions just as public TT Colleges. Some more government facilities are to be extended to the private TT Colleges. Special training opportunities must be made for the teachers of these institutions relaxing some conditions. It is a true fact that only government cannot afford to provide training to all the teachers' within a stipulated time. The extension of helping hands from non-government and private sectors proves as a viable necessity to respond to the emerging situation.

Bye bye Bush

Gail Collins

Thanksgiving is this week, and President Bush could make it a really special holiday by resigning.

Seriously. We have an economy that's crashing and a vacuum at the top. Bush - who just took a trip to Peru to meet with Asian leaders who no longer care what he thinks - hasn't got the clout, or possibly even the energy, to do anything useful. His most recent contribution to resolving the fiscal crisis was lecturing representatives of the world's most important economies on the glories of free-market capitalism.

Putting President-elect Barack Obama in charge immediately isn't impossible. Vice-President Dick Cheney, obviously, would have to quit as well as Bush. In fact, just to be on the safe side, the vice-president ought to turn in his resignation first. (We're desperate, but not crazy.) Then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would become president until Jan. 20. Obviously, she'd defer to her party's incoming chief executive, and Obama could begin governing.

As a bonus, the Pelosi presidency would put a woman in the White House this year after all. On the downside, a few right-wing talk-show hosts might succumb to apoplexy. That would, of course, be terrible, but I'm afraid we might have to take the risk in the name of a greater good.

Can I see a show of hands? How many people want George W. out and Barack in?

A great many Americans have been counting the days all year on their 2008 George W. Bush Out of Office Countdown calendars. I know a lot of this has been going on because so many people congratulated me when the Feb. 1 Bush quote turned out to be from one of my old columns. ("I think we need not only to eliminate the tollbooth from the middle class, I think we should knock down the tollbooth.")

This was not nearly as good as Feb. 5 ("We ought to make the pie higher") or Feb. 21 ("I understand small business growth. I was one.") But we do what we can.

In the past, presidents have not taken well to suggestions that they hand over the reins before the last possible minute. Senator J. William Fulbright suggested a plan along those lines when Harry Truman was coming to the end of a term in a state of deep unpopularity, and Truman called him "Halfbright" for the rest of his life.

Bush might not love the idea of quitting before he has a chance to light the Christmas tree or commute the execution of one last presidential turkey. After all, he still has a couple more trips planned. And last-minute regulations to issue. (So many national parks to despoil, so many endangered species to exterminate t) And then there's all the packing.

On the other hand, he might want to consider his legacy, such as it is.

In happier days, Bush may have nurtured hopes of making it into the list of America's mediocre presidents, but somewhere between Iraq and Katrina, that goal became a mountain too high. However, he might still have a chance to avoid the absolute bottom of the barrel, a spot currently occupied by James Buchanan, at least in my opinion. Buchanan nailed down The Worst President title in the days between Abraham Lincoln's election and inauguration, when the Southern states began seceding and Buchanan, after a little flailing about, did absolutely nothing.

"Doing nothing is almost the worst thing a president can do," said the historian Michael Beschloss.

If Bush gives up doing nothing by giving up his job, it's possible that someday history might elevate him to the ranks of the below average. Better than Franklin Pierce! Smarter than Warren Harding! And healthier than William Henry Harrison!

The person who would like this plan least probably would be Barack Obama. Who would want to be saddled with the auto industry's problems ahead of schedule? The heads of America's great carmaking corporations are so dim that they couldn't even survive hearings run by members of Congress who actually wanted to help them. Really, when somebody asks you exactly how much money you need, the answer should not be something along the line of "a whole bunch."

An instantaneous takeover would also ruin the Obama team's plan to have the tidiest, best-organised presidential transition in history. Cutting it short and leaping into governing would turn their measured march towards power into a mad scramble. A lot of their Cabinet picks are still working on those 62-page questionnaires.

But while there's been no drama with Obama, we've been living a Technicolor version of "The Perils of Pauline." Detroit is tied to the railroad tracks and the train is coming! California's state government is falling into the sea! The way we're going now, by the time the inauguration rolls around, unemployment will be at 10 per cent and the Dow will be at 10. Time for a change.

Opinion: The assault on Mumbai

Tariq Ali

The terrorist assault on Mumbai's five-star hotels was well planned, but did not require a great deal of logistic intelligence: all the targets were soft. The aim was to create mayhem by shining the spotlight on India and its problems and in that the terrorists were successful.

The identity of the black-hooded group remains a mystery. The Deccan Mujahedeen, which claimed the outrage in an e-mail press release, is certainly a new name probably chosen for this single act. But speculation is rife. A senior Indian naval officer has claimed that the attackers (who arrived in a ship, the M V Alpha) were linked to Somali pirates, implying that this was a revenge attack for the Indian Navy's successful if bloody action against pirates in the Arabian Gulf that led to heavy casualties some weeks ago.

The Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, has insisted that the terrorists were based outside the country. The Indian media has echoed this line of argument with Pakistan (via the Lashkar-e-Taiba) and al-Qaeda listed as the usual suspects. But this is a meditated edifice of official India's political imagination. Its function is to deny that the terrorists could be a homegrown variety, a product of the radicalization of young Indian Muslims who have finally given up on the indigenous political system. To accept this view would imply that the country's political physicians need to heal themselves.

Al Qaeda, as the CIA recently made clear, is a group on the decline. It has never come close to repeating anything vaguely resembling the hits of 9/11. Its principal leader Osama bin Laden may well be dead (he certainly did not make his trademark video intervention in this year's Presidential election in the United States) and his deputy has fallen back on threats and bravado. What of Pakistan?

The country's military is heavily involved in actions on its Northwest frontier where the spillage from the Afghan war has destabilized the region. The politicians currently in power are making repeated overtures to India.

The Lashkar-e-Taiba, not usually shy of claiming its hits, has strongly denied any involvement with the Mumbai attacks. Why should it be such a surprise if the perpetrators are themselves Indian Muslims?

Its hardly a secret that there has been much anger within the poorest sections of the Muslim community against the systematic discrimination and acts of violence carried out against them of which the 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom in shining Gujarat was only the most blatant and the most investigated episode, supported by the Chief Minister of the State and the local state apparatuses. Add to this the continuing sore of Kashmir which has for decades been treated as a colony by Indian troops with random arrests, torture and rape of Kashmiris an everyday occurrence. Conditions have been much worse than in Tibet, but have aroused little sympathy in the West where the defense of human rights is heavily instrumentalised. Indian intelligence outfits are well aware of all this and they should not encourage the fantasies of their political leaders. It's best to come out and accept that there are severe problems inside the country.

A billion Indians: 80 percent Hindus and 14 percent Muslims. A very large minority that cannot be ethnically cleansed without provoking a wider conflict. None of this justifies terrorism, but it should, at the very least, force India's rulers to direct their gaze on their own country and the conditions that prevail. Economic disparities are profound.

The absurd notion that the trickle-down effects of global capitalism would solve most problems can now be seen for what it always was: a fig leaf to conceal new modes of exploitation.