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Editorial


Dhaka needs holistic, expert traffic management plan

TRAFFIC in Dhaka and the sluggish plan for a remedy remain worrying. Urban planners, transport specialists and government at a seminar, which the Bangladesh Institute of Planners has organised on September 15, painted a stark picture of a city...

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Govt should tie all loose ends to meet timely textbook supply

THE National Curriculum and Textbook Board, meant to provide about 40 million students with textbooks on January 1, when the academic year begins, could print about 410.5 million copies of textbooks for the current academic year and complete the distribution by March, three months after classes began. The failure earned the board criticism. The board could run into...

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Timely demand for cyber safety policy for campuses

THE demand for a cyber safety policy for the campus before the students’ union elections in the University of Rajshahi is more than justified in view of the extent of cyber harassment that candidates in such elections in the University of Dhaka and Jahangirnagar University faced during campaigns. Women candidates in the Rajshahi University Central Students’ Union elections...

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NCTB split into two entities appears right step forward

THE government’s initiative to put the task of printing pre-primary and primary textbooks, which the National Curriculum and Textbook Board has so far done, at the hands of the primary and mass education ministry appears problematic. The government has drafted the amendments to the National Curriculum and Textbook Board Act 2018 to transfer the responsibility for...

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Persistent wage crisis calls for urgent reforms

TRAFFIC in the Kuril area of Dhaka came to a halt on September 11 for more than four hours after apparel workers staged a blockade, demanding arrears and allowances. About 500–600 employees of Eurozone Fashion Garments gathered on the Kuril flyover...

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A welcome High Court order that govt must comply with

The High Court’s order to halt the construction of the elevated expressway extension through Panthakunja Park and Hatirjheel, while directing the government not to block public access to the vital urban spaces, is welcome. The ruling follows a writ petition filed by green activists, university teachers and Bangladesh Tree Protection Movement members. It reaffirms what...

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Public doctor’s private practice should in no way peter out

THE government’s allowing physicians of public hospitals to see patients in private sessions in respective hospitals after duty hours, which began in March 2023, has largely stalled in two years and a half. Health managers say that the plan was put into action in at least 170 hospitals, but the system somehow functions in only about 30 of the hospitals. The services closed...

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Maternal mental health should no longer be ignored

THIS is a reminder of the silent crisis enveloping maternal health that nearly 77 per cent of pregnant women seeking healthcare services are found to suffer from depression or anxiety and two-thirds endure both the conditions simultaneously. An International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh study, based on data gathered in 2022–2025, shows the alarming...

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A wake-up call for democrats

THE win of the right-wing Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student front of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, in the elections to the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union, the yearly event that took place after a gap of six years on September 9, which were by and large free and fair, is a defeat of the centrist and left student political organisations. This needs to be recognised...

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Weak oversight fuels surge in motorcycle mishap deaths

AN ALARMING increase in motorcycle accidents and consequent fatalities suggests both lax enforcement of traffic regulations and motorcyclists’ proclivity to disregard them. The photograph that ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· published on September 9 shows three teenagers, in school uniforms and without helmets, riding a motorcycle in the rain near the Teacher-Student Centre on the...