Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday urged the people of the country to properly groom their children with love and affection to make their lives meaningful and successful.
 
“Today’s children are tomorrow’s future. So, I would like to urge the people of the country to ensure their safety and give them love, develop their lives well, and thus make their lives successful and meaningful,” she said.
 
The Prime Minister said this while addressing the inaugural and award-giving ceremony of Sheikh Russel Day-2021 and Award virtually from her official residence Ganobhaban.
 
Sheikh Russel Jatiya Shishu-Kishore Parishad arranged the function under the supervision of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Division at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) in the city.

Read: Sheikh Russel Day today
 
The Prime Minister said grooming children properly with affection should be the responsibility and ideal of all.
 
She said her government wants to build Bangladesh as a developed and prosperous ‘Sonar Bangla’ with a non-communal spirit where there would be no injustice and people would enjoy a decent life.
 
Describing education as an invaluable wealth for them, Hasina urged the children to be attentive to their studies and learn good things from the digital space in this era of technology.

“This wealth (education) can never be lost or no one can snatch it. Education is the biggest asset in one’s life,” she said.
 
The Prime Minister said the government is expanding the scope for digital education as it is now the modern and technological era. “Today, the world is in our hands as everything can be known from there. So, you’ve to learn only good things from it and build yourselves properly,” she said.  
 
The Prime Minister asked the children to be attentive also to sports and cultural practices maintaining discipline in life.

Recalling Sheikh Russel’s memories, she said he was very attentive to study and had the habit of reading comic books.
 
Hasina said the small boy (Russel) was brutally killed after assassinating his father, mother, brothers, and uncle as he wanted to go to his mother on the fateful day of August 15 in 1975. “Why? What was this child’s fault?  What was the fault of others? Was this massacre staged as Bangladesh had emerged independent?” she said in her emotion-choked voice.
 
Hasina said her youngest brother Sheikh Russel had a dream to be a member of the army, but his dream was shattered. “Had he been alive today, he would be a senior (army) officer,” she said.
 
Referring to the genocide committed by Pakistan occupation forces, she said they had killed newborns and even unborn babies in mother’s womb. The incidents also recurred after the 2001 general election. “Bangladesh-Jamaat carried out killings in different places of Bangladesh in the same style after the election as Pakistan occupation forces conducted genocide,” she said.
 
Noting that the Father of the Nation had enacted the Children Act 1974 for the safety of children, she said, “How much unfortunate it was that his children had to die in the hands of assassins!”

Read: AL to observe Sheikh Russel Day on Oct. 18
 
The PM unveiled the cover of two books titled "Sheikh Russel: Jhore Jawa Phul” (Sheikh Russel, a fallen flower) and "Sheikh Russel: Deepta Joyullas Adommo Atmabiswas (Sheikh Russel, radiant joy, indomitable confidence)".
 
Sheikh Russel Day is being observed, nationally for the first time, with the theme of “Sheikh Russel Deepto Joyullash, Odmya Atmobiswas,” to mark the 58th birth anniversary of the youngest child of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
 
Ten children were awarded with "Sheikh Russel Gold Medal" in five categories -- education, sports, science and technology, fine arts-literature-culture, and children with special needs-- for their outstanding contributions to the respective fields.
 
Besides, 4,000 freelancers have been provided with laptops under the Learning and earning Development Projects (LEDPP) for their outstanding performance.
 
At the function presided over by State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak, prizes were distributed among the winners of quiz and other competitions arranged on the occasion.