He made the call in his speech at the 48th Annual General Meeting of the National Council of Bangladesh Scouts at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.
President’s Secretary Shampad Barua read out his speech as Abdul Hamid could not join the programme due to unavoidable circumstances.
The President underscored the need for enhancing the quality of scouts alongside their members. “The number of scouts in the country is now 19 lakh, which is not sufficient compared to the country’s population. The Bangladesh Scouts National Strategic Plan-2021 is being implemented to increase the number of scouts to 21 lakh. Scout leaders shouldn’t only focus on increasing the number but also quality.”
He also said to use the Scouts Movement as a tool for social change, its activities need to be spread to the grassroots level without keeping it confined to formal meetings and seminars. “You have to take specific steps to make scout activities more visible,” he said.
Abdul Hamid said there is no alternative to proper and competent leadership for sustainable development and therefore, honest, efficient and capable leadership should be developed at the grassroots level through decentralisation and scouting of leadership.
He also urged scouts to help keep children and youths away from negatives aspects of the society by expanding their movement to the grassroots level to make them ideal citizens.
Terming today's children as the future leaders, the President said, “They’re the main driving force of the country. So, one of our main responsibilities is to educate them through moral education and practical training. The degradation of morality, selfishness, jealousy and greed in society are having a negative impact on children and adolescents. Besides, global terrorism, militancy, fundamentalism, drug and technology abuse are playing a role in driving the youth to go astray.”
“Many potential talents are falling apart prematurely. They should be made good citizens with human values being taken out of this situation. The Scout Movement can play an important role in this regard,” he also said.
Abdul Hamid asked the scouts to contribute more to the socio-economic development of the country by joining shoulder-to-shoulder with scouts from all over the world which is the expectation of all.
He said children, adolescents and youths should be motivated by moral and practical education as well as patriotism to build ‘Sonar Bangla’ as dreamt by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
The President also asked the scout leaders to take effective steps so that scouts can know the true history of the War of Liberation and imbue them with the spirit of the War of Liberation.
He also expressed the hope that the Scout Movement will spread more rapidly to every educational institution across the country.
Chief National Commissioner of Bangladesh Scouts Dr Mozammel Haque Khan delivered the inaugural speech at the programme with President of Bangladesh Scouts Abul Kalam Azad in the chair.
Awards were also distributed among the best scouts of 2018 at the event.