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Gazette in six months to change names of 200 govt primary schools: State Minister
The government has taken an initiative to change 200 government primary schools’ names which are inappropriate, said State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Zakir Hossain.
“A policy regarding this was issued on 23 January 2022. We have decided to publish gazette within six months,” he said.
He said this at a press conference at the conference room of the secretariat on Tuesday.
"We will change the negative names with decent and inspiring ones that honor our history, culture, prominent figures, and freedom fighters,” he said.
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Secretary of the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education (MoPME) Farid Ahmed was also present there.
Disbursement of secondary, higher secondary stipends for girls begins
The distribution of stipend money among the girls at secondary and higher secondary levels of educational institutions across the country was started through mobile banking on Thursday.
Education Minister Dipu Moni inaugurated the distribution at her ministry on Thursday.
The stipend beneficiaries will get a total over Tk 751.2 crore from the second instalment of July to December last year.
The financial assistance is provided by the ‘Integrated Stipends Programme’ under the Prime Minister’s Education Assistance Trust.
Deputy Minister for Education Barrister Mohibul Hasan Nowfel and Senior Secretary to Technical and Madrasha division Md Kamal Hossain, among others, were present there.
Secondary and Higher Secondary division Secretary Solaiman Khan chaired the programme where the Prime Minister’s Education Assistance Trust Managing Director (additional secretary) Abdun Nur Muhammad Al Firoz delivered the welcome speech.
No charges are imposed for cashing out the stipend money using mobile financial services.
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Education Alliance Bangladesh: New name for 'Safe Back to School'
The "Safe Back to School" campaign alliance, which was formed following the Covid situation to bring back students to school, has started a new journey to ensure inclusive quality education for all in the country, under a new name: "Education Alliance Bangladesh – EAB."
The declaration of this new name came at the Education Summit 2023 Wednesday in Dhaka.
"Let's Work Together to Ensure Inclusive Quality Education in Bangladesh," is the new slogan of the alliance.
During the opening ceremony, Onno van Manen, Save the Children Country Director said: "This alliance aims to continue working together so that we can reach a larger number of children who require our assistance. We need to elevate the voices of the children through this platform."
The alliance will support the government to mitigate challenges related to quality and inclusive education. It will work with the government to strengthen the education system by taking initiatives to popularise technical/vocational education and fostering partnerships among education actors for accelerating a joyful learning environment.
The closure of educational institutions from March 17, 2020, to February 14, 2021, required the launch of mass awareness campaigns as it triggered children dropout rates from schools in both urban and rural areas, causing an increase in child labour and child marriage.
Against this backdrop, national and international NGOs working for the education sector in Bangladesh united themselves under the Safe Back to School.
Safe Back to School's awareness campaign, research study, and advocacy-related discussions with government officials and stakeholders underlined the need for long-term activities to ensure the scope for education for all children in Bangladesh.
The alliance members are Brac, British Council Bangladesh, CAMPE, Dhaka Ahsania Mission, Educo Bangladesh, FIVDB, Friendship, Habitat for Humanity Bangladesh, Humanity and Inclusion, Jagorani Chakra Foundation, Leonard Cheshire, Plan International Bangladesh, Room to Read, Save the Children, Sesame Workshop Bangladesh, Sight Savers Bangladesh, Stromme Foundation, Teach for Bangladesh, Voluntary Service Overseas, World Vision Bangladesh, and Young Power in Social Action.
Read more: 'Safe Back to School’ campaign pledges full support for reopening
BUET hosts 'Robo Carnival' for schools, colleges, varsities
The Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) has launched a two-day long 'Robo Carnival' to inspire students to make robots to make smart Bangladesh with the slogan 'Build Robot for Smart Bangladesh'.
The two-day long carnival starts at the ECE building around 10 am today (January 19) and BUET vice Chancellor Dr Sattyaprashad Majumdar was the chief guest.
About 500 students, divided into 125 groups, from the different schools, colleges and universities of the country are taking part in the two-day carnival.
The carnival has been arranged to teach and inspire the students about different segments of Robotics like dust collecting robot competition, and firefighter robot competition.
Besides the firefighter robot and trash collector robot competition, a project showcasing part, a workshop on Robotics Simulation software and a robotics olympiad for the competitors have been arranged.
Tarikul Islam Tanvir, a student of Gopalganj Polytechnic Institute, who has developed an 'Earthquake digital safety system', said on his project: "We know that when an earthquake happens, many people die from being electrocuted. The safety system that I have developed will reduce the danger of being electrocuted in case any earthquake happens."
"This safety system can detect earthquake vibration automatically and immediately after it cuts off the electricity lines and water supply lines. Besides, it sends automatic calls to alert the user about the earthquake. This system can be installed in every residential house and industrial sector but if the device is installed in district supply lines then there is no need to install the system separately in individual houses or industrial factories," Tanvir added.
At the initial stage, BUET students took initial tests and presentations of the projects and later BUET teachers evaluated those projects.
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Sheikh Kamal inter-school and madrasah athletics begins Saturday
The first phase of the Sheikh Kamal Inter-School and Madrasah Athletics Competition 2023, the country's biggest athletics completion, organised by the Bangladesh Athletics Federation (BAF) will begin on Saturday at the upazila level.
Around 50 lakh promising athletes from all upazilas will compete in 32 events in four categories of the competition.
President of Bangladesh Athletics Federation and Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina M Tofazzel Hossain Miah disclosed the details of the competition at a press conference in the capital Thursday evening.
In A and B groups, sixth and eighth-graders will compete in 100-metre, and 200-metre runs, high jump and long jump.
In C and D groups, ninth and tenth-graders will compete in 100-metre, 200-metre, 400-metre, 800-metre, 1500-metre runs, high jump, long jump, triple jump, javelin throw, shot put, discus throw and 4x100-metre relay race.
The inter-upazila level competition will be held during January 14-28, the district level competition during February 1-5, and the divisional level during February 9-13.
The final round of national level competition, featuring the winners of the divisional level, will be held later.
Read more: National Athletics: Army lead medal table with 15 golds, 11 silvers, 13 bronzes
Seattle schools sue tech giants over social media harm
The public school district in Seattle has filed a novel lawsuit against the tech giants behind TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat, seeking to hold them accountable for the mental health crisis among youth.
Seattle Public Schools filed the lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court. The 91-page complaint says the social media companies have created a public nuisance by targeting their products to children.
It blames them for worsening mental health and behavioral disorders including anxiety, depression, disordered eating and cyberbullying; making it more difficult to educate students; and forcing schools to take steps such as hiring additional mental health professionals, developing lesson plans about the effects of social media, and providing additional training to teachers.
“Defendants have successfully exploited the vulnerable brains of youth, hooking tens of millions of students across the country into positive feedback loops of excessive use and abuse of Defendants’ social media platforms,” the complaint said. “Worse, the content Defendants curate and direct to youth is too often harmful and exploitive ....”
Meta, Google, Snap and TikTok did not immediately respond to requests for comment Saturday.
While federal law — Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act — helps protect online companies from liability arising from what third-party users post on their platforms, the lawsuit argues that provision does not protect the tech giants' behavior in this case.
“Plaintiff is not alleging Defendants are liable for what third-parties have said on Defendants’ platforms but, rather, for Defendants’ own conduct,” the lawsuit said. “Defendants affirmatively recommend and promote harmful content to youth, such as pro-anorexia and eating disorder content."
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The lawsuit says that from 2009 to 2019, there was on average a 30% increase in the number of Seattle Public Schools students who reported feeling “so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row" that they stopped doing some typical activities.
The school district is asking the court to order the companies to stop creating the public nuisance, to award damages, and to pay for prevention education and treatment for excessive and problematic use of social media.
While hundreds of families are pursuing lawsuits against the companies over harms they allege their children have suffered from social media, it's not clear if any other school districts have filed a complaint like Seattle's.
Internal studies revealed by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen in 2021 showed that the company knew that Instagram negatively affected teenagers by harming their body image and making eating disorders and thoughts of suicide worse. She alleged that the platform prioritized profits over safety and hid its own research from investors and the public.
STS to introduce Glenrich International School in Bangladesh
STS Group is going to introduce a premium school in Bangladesh, Glenrich International School, to address evolving educational needs and prepare learners for a competitive world.
A brand launching and logo unveiling event was held at a hotel in the capital Monday. Khondoker Monir Uddin, managing director of STS Group, Manas Singh, CEO of STS Group, and Ramesh Mudgal, principal of Glenrich International School, were present.
Read more: UCB holds MCD orientation programme
The event started with an informative presentation on Glenrich International School, which will follow the Cambridge curriculum, followed by the name and logo unveiling programme.
Manas said: "We are introducing a new school named Glenrich International School that will offer 21st-century education to its students in a caring and nurturing environment. With this launch, we are completing the first phase of our dream project of launching four new schools in the next few years."
Read more: Universal College Bangladesh brings University of London degrees with LSE's academic direction
Printing work of textbooks to start from Thursday: Dipu Moni
The printing work of textbooks will start from Thursday with aim to distribute those among students on the first day of 2023, said Education Minister Dipu Moni on Wednesday.
“We want to distribute textbooks on time as well as maintaining their quality,” the minister told reporters in reply to a question at the Secretariat.
“Now if paper pulp is not available, then we have to provide paper even if it is secondary pulp. There will some differences in the quality of paper, but we have to ensure acceptable quality,” she added.
Read more: Students to get new books on first day of 2023: Dipu Moni
Dipu Moni said it is not possible to check all 35 crore textbooks. “We try our best to maintain the quality as much as possible.”
The government celebrates textbook festival on the first day of every year to distribute new books among students which was not held in the last two years due to Covid pandemic.
Now the pandemic is under control, the government wants to return to the old tradition, said the minister.
On October 29, Dipu Moni said textbooks will be distributed at schools countrywide on the first day of 2023.
Body of 8th grader recovered from his school’s toilet in Sherpur
The body of an 8th grader was recovered from an open toilet of his school in Bhimganj Bazar area of the district town on Friday morning, said police.
Identified as Mohammad Rimon, the 16-year-old boy was son of Sagor Mia of Khunia Madhyapara village under the Sadar upazila and the student of Daffodil School.
The victim’s mother Rasheda Begum, in choked voice, said that Rimon went out of house on Thursday evening saying he was going to his maternal grandfather's home.
“In the morning we heard the news of his death,” she said.
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Local people said they smelt a bad odour from the toilet while they were passing by it around 11am, though the school remained closed due to the weekly holiday.
Later, they found body of the schoolboy lying in the open toilet and informed police.
Bachhir Ahmed, Officer-in-charge (OC) of Sadar Police Station, said on information they rushed to the spot and recovered the body and sent it to Sadar Hospital morgue for autopsy.
Though there were marks of injuries on the right side of head, the exact reason for his death will be known following the autopsy, he said.
Meanwhile, teams of Criminal Investigation Department and Detective Branch and Police Bureau of Investigation inspected the spot and collected samples, the OC added.
27th School Handball begins
The Polar Ice Cream 27th School Handball (Boys and Girls) Tournament 2022 began Thursday at the Shaheed Captain M Mansur Ali National Handball Stadium.
Habibur Rahman, deputy inspector general of police (Dhaka Range), inaugurated the competition.
Read: V-Day Handball: BGB clinch men’s crown; Ansar & VDP women’s title
Shah Masud Imam, CEO of Polar Ice Cream, was present as a special guest at the function, chaired by Handball Federation General Secretary Asaduzzaman Kohinoor.
In the inaugural match (boys' group), Bangladesh International School beat Ideal School and College 14-11 after leading the first half 7-6.