Readers’ Forum

Be specific to one issue once

It is common knowledge that Bangladesh is in a mess, politically and otherwise, despite the political windbag utterings.
There is so much to put right, I doubt if anyone knows where to begin, but even worse, there’s no real effort to begin change.
My wife and I have had endless discussions and debates on the woes of the nation and on the silliness of the political leaders who are not prepared to even discuss remedies and solutions for the benefit of all. The democracy they talk about here has to be as unique to the nation as our Shapla flower, and found nowhere else on earth.
Yesterday we read a fascinating no-holds-barred article written by Sir Frank Peters and learned he has been campaigning for almost five years to abolish corporal punishment in the school system, but it still continues. Just imagine how much pain and suffering has been caused to vulnerable children during this period, it’s a national disgrace. It’s well known that corporal punishment is totally ineffective and damages children irreparably.
So instead of trying to sort out the enormous mess of this nation all at once and achieving nothing (as we have been doing), let’s concentrate our efforts on one solvable problem and abolish corporal punishment from our school.
If we can do one thing right for the benefit of the nation, at least we will be doing something positive and moving forward.

Md. Abdul S. Hasan
Dhanmondi,
Dhaka