Ensure opportunities beyond academics to nurture children’s talents

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has stressed the need to give every child opportunities to develop talents beyond academic studies, saying their proper growth is crucial to building a stronger Bangladesh.
“Today’s children are the pillars of their families.

If they can grow up properly, the foundation of their families will become stronger. Likewise, if we can provide all children across Bangladesh with opportunities to develop properly, the foundation of our country will become much stronger,” he said.

The Prime Minister made the remarks at a discussion at Bangladesh Shishu Academy marking Children’s Rights Day 2026 and the 50th anniversary of the academy. Addressing children as his “little friends”, Tarique Rahman said they should not be confined to academic studies but should have opportunities to explore their talents in sports, arts, culture and music.

He urged parents to recognise and nurture their children’s individual qualities rather than putting pressure on them to pursue only conventional academic activities.

“I want you to complete what I could not,” he told the children, recalling his childhood interest in playing the guitar and keyboard.

The Prime Minister said many children had talents in drawing, recitation, music, dance and other creative activities and urged them to develop those abilities fully.

He said the government wanted children to have exposure to arts and culture alongside sports and music so that they could develop according to their individual interests.

Tarique Rahman said the government had already taken initiatives to identify and develop children’s sporting talents, including a nationwide primary-level football competition in which around 22 lakh boys and girls participated.

He expressed hope that continuing such initiatives would help produce internationally acclaimed footballers and other sports talents from among the country’s children.

He also recalled the “Natun Kuri” programme introduced by Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman to promote children’s cultural talents, saying the programme had been revived alongside a sports-based “Natun Kuri” initiative.

“We want to build our children in such a way that a child will have good exposure to art and culture, become skilled in them, and similarly develop proficiency in music and sports,” he said.

The Prime Minister said many families, particularly in remote and rural areas, could not afford to provide children with opportunities for extracurricular activities.

“So, from the school level, we are trying to create facilities for arts, culture, sports and music so that every child can choose a subject according to his or her preference,” he said.

He said the government expected to begin the full process from 2027 or 2028, under which children at primary and secondary levels would have opportunities to learn music, play musical instruments and choose sports according to their interests.

The Prime Minister also announced plans to provide children with opportunities to learn a third language in addition to Bangla and English.

The options would include Arabic, Mandarin, German and Japanese, he said.

Tarique Rahman said knowledge of an additional foreign language would help children in their future education and employment abroad and enable them to compete and survive more effectively in the global environment.

However, he stressed that academic, sporting, artistic or linguistic achievements alone would not be enough.

“Children must also become humane,” he said, urging them to show compassion not only towards people but also towards nature, animals and birds.

The Prime Minister called on parents and guardians to instil a sense of responsibility towards the environment and other living beings in children.

“If we are kind to nature, nature will certainly be kind to us,” he said.

He urged children to care for trees and animals around their homes and schools and sought their cooperation in keeping the environment clean.

He also asked them to discourage adults from throwing garbage indiscriminately in public places.

“If you see an adult throwing garbage or waste somewhere and harming the environment, you can tell them to put it in the proper place,” he said.

Tarique Rahman said a clean environment would help children grow up in a healthy environment and become physically and mentally healthy people.

He called on all sections of society to work together to build the country, saying the task did not necessarily require major efforts but could be achieved through small, collective actions.

“We will build this country ourselves. If we want to build the country, all of us must work together,” he said.

The Prime Minister also recalled visiting Bangladesh Shishu Academy as a child with his younger brother and parents, Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman and Begum Khaleda Zia, at the time of its inauguration.

He said he also found some of his and his younger brother’s writings displayed at the academy, taking him back five decades in his memories.

Prime Minister’s wife and Vice-President of the Ziaur Rahman Foundation Dr Zubaida Rahman also addressed the event, chaired by Women and Children Affairs Minister Prof Dr A Z M Zahid Hossain.

Earlier, 150 children welcomed the Prime Minister when he arrived at Bangladesh Shishu Academy premises. The programme later began with the national anthem.

Following the discussion, the Prime Minister enjoyed a cultural event performed by children and visited the children’s drawings and a photo exhibition gallery.