United News of Bangladesh

A total of 82,383 students have got scholarships across the country in the Primary Scholarship Examination held in 2022. State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Zakir Hossain announced the results on Tuesday. Among the students, 33,000 got scholarships under talent pool while 49,383 under general grade. Talent pool scholarships recipients will get Tk 300 per month while recipients under general grade will get Tk 225. Also Read: Primary scholarship results Tuesday Recipients of both grades will get Tk 225 for buying books. The result aspirants will be able to see the results on the websites-www.dpe.gov.bd and www.mopme.gov.bd. Apart from this, the results will be available at the offices of divisional deputy director, district primary education officer and upazila or thana education officer.          

The authorities at Chattogram University on Tuesday asked former and expelled students to leave the dormitories by March 15. The decision was taken in an emergency meeting of the University's Board of Residence, Health and Discipline, said a notice issued by the university administration on Monday night. Read: First-ever research, innovation fair held at CU The authorities also decided to conduct regular operations on the campus area to stop selling and consumption of drugs, said the notice. Legal action will be taken if anyone, who is not a student or has no connection to the institution,is found on the campus after March 15, added the notice.

The results of Primary Scholarship Examinations will be published on Tuesday.  State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Md Zakir Hossain made the announcement at a press conference at the conference room of the ministry in the capital, said a media release, signed by Senior Information Officer Mahbubur Rahman Tuhin on Monday.  Secretary to the ministry Farid Ahmad and Director General of Primary Education Directorate Shah Rezwan Hayat, among others, were present at the conference. The result aspirants will be able to obtain the results on the websites-www.dpe.gov.bd and www.mopme.gov.bd. Apart from this, the results will be available at the offices of divisional deputy director, district primary education officer and upazila or thana education officer. Though the scholarship exams were not held due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, the authorities concerned took the decision to hold the exam last year. As per the decision, 4, 83,759 students, which were 20 percent of the total students who passed in the annual examination of the class-V, sat for the examinations on December 30, 2022. The students answered the questions in four subjects--Bangla, Mathematics, English and Science in the two-hour 100 marks test.   

A daylong fair on research, innovation and publication, first of its kind, was held on the Chittagong University (CU) campus on Monday marking the 84th birth anniversary of Scientist Dr Jamal Nazrul Islam. Dr Nazrul Islam Research Centre for Mathematical and Physical Sciences and Chittagong University Research and Higher Study Society jointly organised the fair styled ‘Chattogram Research Festival’ with the aim to popularise the research culture. Apart from this, the fair aims to present the researches of the university and varieties of researches of all organisations in Chattogram before all. CU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Shireen Akhter inaugurated the fair where Pro VC Prof Benu Kumar Dey, Science Faculty Dean Prof Dr Mohammad Nasim Hasan, Dr Nazrul Islam Research Centre Director and Coordinator of the fair Prof Dr Anjan Kumar Chowdhury and Geography department teacher and member secretary of the fair Prof Dr Alak Pal, among others were present there. Former faculty member of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and ‘Distinguished Professor’ of Brac University Prof Dr Mohammad Kaikobad was the key speaker of the fair.

It is now two weeks since a first year student of the finance and banking department of Islamic University in Kushtia was made to endure a night of unspeakable torture and humiliation. Thanks to her courage and tenacity in filing a formal, written comlaint to the university authorities the very next day, this disturbing incident perpetrated by the university's Chhatra League unit, more specifically the leadership of the women's wing within that unit, couldn't be suppressed.  However the student body can't help but note that even though two weeks have passed since then, there has been no action taken till now against the prime accused:  IU BCL unit vice-president Shanjida Chowdhury Ontora and her cohorts, themselves all BCL activists even if not holding any post including Tabbassum, Israt Jahan Min, Halima Khatun Urmi and Maobiya. This holds true for both the university administration as well as the BCL unit.  Even thirteen days after the night of horror that played out at the Deshratna Sheikh Hasina Hall, authorities had failed to collect CCTV footage of that night from the hall. Many students are not surprised by that. They. allege that the number of ragging and torturing incidents have increased on campus due to the consistent lack of action against the perpetrators,  despite submitting written complaints to the university administration, as the latest victim did. REad: BCL-Torture: Prime accused appears before probe body "A couple of weeks have been passed but no action was taken against accused,"  Bangladesh Chhatra Union IU unit president Emanul Islam Shohan said. The university administration should have taken action against the accused after they had received the complaint from the victim but they did not do that, he added. IU law department Professor M Johurul Islam told UNB that the university administration could have primarily taken action against the accused under the code of conduct of the university. "There was no legal obstacle to taking action against the accused and the university authorities had many ways to take actions in this connection," he added. IU BCL unit president Faisal Siddike Arafat said that they formed a probe body in this connection. They would recommend to the central BCL to take organisational action against Ontora after getting the probe report. Ataur Rahman, father of the victim, said that he brought his daughter to the campus four times as part of the investigation. ‘The health condition of my daughter was not so good,’ he said. When asked about what he will do if she does not get justice, he said that he would lodge a case for legal action in this connection. Professor Reba Mondol, convener of the probe body formed by the university administration on February 15, could not be reached over phone despite repeated attempts for her comments in this regard. Read: VC’s leaked audio clips: IU postpones 3 departments’ recruitment process IU pro-vice-chancellor Professor M Mahbubur Rahman said that they would take stern action against the accused involved in the incident after getting the probe report. On February 12 night, a group of BCL activists led by Ontora and her cohorts including Tabassum went to the victim’s room and reportedly assaulted and tortured her. Ontora, at one stage, forced the victim to get undressed and videoed the incident on her mobile phone. The BCL leader also threatened that she would make the video viral on social media if the victim disclosed the matter to anyone, according to the complainant. The victim lodged a written complaint with the university administration, including the university proctor, student adviser and the hall provost, demanding punishment of those involved in the incident on February 14. A writ petition was also filed by Gazi Mohammad Mohsin, an alumnus of the university and a lawyer, with the High Court on Thursday. Kushtia district administration, meanwhile, formed a three-member inquiry committee, led by additional district magistrate ANM Abujar Gifari, and asked it to submit its report within seven days following a High Court order on February 20. Accused BCL leader Ontara and activist Tabassum left the hall following the High Court order. However they have reportedly apologised to the victim, effectively owning up to their guilt.

The Career Services office (CSO) of the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) held a day-long Career Fair for current students and alumni, chorusing the motto “Connect to the Future” on Saturday. The chief guest of the fair, Naser Ezaz Bijoy, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank and President of FICCI said, “People make mistakes during their good times. On the contrary, hard times help people to become more complete.” He advised the students to be prepared to take on all sorts of challenges. Professor Imran Rahman, ULAB Vice-Chancellor, also delivered his remarks at the event. Read: With an eye to the future, 7th Bangladesh School of Internet Governance ends Jamal Uddin Jamy, Director of Carrier Services, ULAB said, “The objective of organizing such an event was to ensure a scope of corporate jobs for the graduates of ULAB as well as give them an insight about the country's top organizations.” After the Inaugural Ceremony, a panel discussion on “What will it take to shape the workforce of the future”, a workshop on resume writing and a training session on Communication and Negotiation Skills took place. The workshop and training sessions were facilitated by Niaz Ahmed, CEO of Corporate Ask and Ejazur Rahman, Managing Director of Mind Mapper, respectively. A total of 64 multinational and national companies and organizations including Grameenphone, Standard Chartered Bank, Dhaka Bank, Marico, Lanka Bangla Finance and others participated in the career fair. The participating companies also collected a large number of CVs from potential candidates.

The three-day Bangladesh School of Internet Governance (bdSIG) 2023 drew to a close in the capital on Saturday. The seventh edition of the fellowship programme brought together 61 fellows – youth and professionals from the private sector, government, academia, civil society, and media – to help them shape the future of the internet by bridging the gap between technology and policy. The bdSIG, a community development initiative of the Bangladesh Internet Governance Forum (BIGF), began at the Daffodil International University (DIU) in Dhaka's Savar on Thursday with sessions on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, the internet of things, big data, AR, and VR. DIU lecturers Arid Hasan conducted the session "Artificial Intelligence in Natural Language Processing," Musabbir Hasan "Data Science," and Assistant Professor Apurba Ghosh ran the session "Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Technology." DIU Vice-Chancellor Professor M Lutfar Rahman, AHM Bazlur Rahman, founder of the BIGF, and Mohammad Abdul Haque Anu, founder and secretary general of the forum, spoke at the final session of the day. On Friday, at the YWCA Guest House and Training Center in Mohammadpur, Bazlur, also CEO of the Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Community, gave the fellows presentations about key internet issues, including the internet ecosystem; political, legal, economic, sociocultural, and technical dimensions of internet governance as well the local point of intersection of internet governance and Sustainable Development Goals. He also had interactive conversations about the key actors in internet governance, digital infrastructure and adoption, digital rights, human rights, digital economy, digital divide, and geopolitical positioning. Rezaul Islam, quality assurance manager of the BGD-eGOV CIRT, talked about cybersecurity and Bangladesh's preparedness. Mamunur Rashid, consultant at the Enhancement of Bangla Language, conducted the session "Bangla Language in the Digital World." Also, Anu discussed the activities of the BIGF and its communities, including the Bangladesh Women IGF, Bangladesh Youth IGF, and Bangladesh Kid's IGF.

At least three students were injured in a clash between two factions of Bangladesh Chhatra League’s (BCL) Chittagong University (CU) unit on Friday evening. Eye-witnesses told UNB that supporters of the ‘Bijoy’group were divided into two factions  and clashed with each other, leaving three students injured and vandalising eight rooms of Suhrawardy Hall. Members of both the groups were seen with local weapons in their hall premises. Acting Proctor of Chittagong University (CU) Dr. Shahidul Islam said that police went immediately after hearing the news. Police brought the situation under control. None of the leaders could be reached despite repeated attempts.

The 7th Bangladesh School of Internet Governance (bdSIG) 2023 started Thursday. The three-day programme began at the Daffodil International University (DIU) in Savar with sessions on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, AR, and VR. Mohammad Abdul Haque Anu, secretary general of the Bangladesh Internet Governance Forum (BIGF), welcomed the participants. DIU lecturers Arid Hasan conducted the session "Artificial Intelligence in Natural Language Processing," Musabbir Hasan "Data Science," and Assistant Professor Apurba Ghosh conducted the session "Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Technology." DIU Vice-Chancellor Professor M Lutfar Rahman, AHM Bazlur Rahman, CEO of Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Community (BNNRC), and Anu spoke at the final session of the day. On the second day of the programme at the YWCA Guest House and Training Center in Mohammadpur Friday, Bazlur discussed governance, internet governance, and digital governance. Rezaul Islam, quality assurance manager of BGD-eGOV CIRT, talked about cyber security and Bangladesh's preparedness. Mamunur Rashid, consultant at Enhancement of Bangla Language, conducted the session "Bangla Language in the Digital World." Also, Anu discussed the activities of the BIGF and its communities. He highlighted the aims and objectives of the bdSIG and briefed the participants about the school's sessions from 2017 to now. Faisal Ahmed Bhubon, secretary general of the Bangladesh Youth IGF, discussed the activities of his platform in the last two years. Nazmul Hasan Majumder, vice-chair of the bdSIG, discussed the activities of the school in the past three years. Ashrafur Rahman Piaus, secretary general of the bdSIG, discussed international fellowship opportunities for the participants.

The authorities of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST), Sylhet on Wednesday decided to suspend its five students for harassing a first year student in the name of ragging.  Prof Farid Uddin Ahmed, vice chancellor of the SUST, confirmed the news saying that they took the decision to suspend the students and cancel their seats at the dormitory after the allegations of ragging were found to be primarily true. Apart from this, a five-member committee was formed to investigate the allegations and asked to submit its report within the next five days, he said. The committee included Business Administration faculty Dean Prof Dr Khairul Islam, Business Administration Department Head Prof Dr Majharul Hasan, Syed Mujtaba Ali Hall Provost Prof Dr Abu Sayed Arfin Khan Nobel, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Hall Provost Moniruzzamana and Assistant Proctor Mizanur Rahman. A group of students of the Business Administration faculty harassed the first year student in room No.111 of the Syed Mujtaba Ali Hall on January 20.