Today is the fifth anniversary of death of professor emeritus Sultana Sarawatara Zaman who died on March 22, 2020.
From the late 1960s, Sultana Zaman was a pioneer in recognising the stigma associated with children with disabilities and their educational, social and rehabilitation needs, said a press release.
Since 1967, she taught developmental psychology at Dhaka University and established the first Shishu Bikash Clinic at the psychiatry department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
In 1977, she founded the Society for the Care and Education of Mentally Retarded Children, which was later renamed Society for the Welfare of Children with Intellectual Disability, Bangladesh.
In 1984, she founded the Bangladesh Protibondhi Foundation and the Bangladesh Institute for Special Education, said the release.
In 1990, she transferred herself from the Department of Psychology to the Institute of Education and Research (IER, Dhaka University) to establish the first ever Department of Special Education in Bangladesh.
Sultana Zaman was awarded a doctoral degree by Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia in the USA in 1984.
Her research tools, which were developed for marginalised children in Bangladesh and across the globe, are currently being widely utilised in several countries in South America, Asia and Africa.
Professor Sultana Zaman鈥檚 multitude of contributions to society also included the founding of the Samaj Unnayan Sangstha (Deepshikha School) and bringing girls into scouting in Bangladesh.
Among the many accolades and awards bestowed upon her, she received the Begum Rokeya Padak in 2008.
A freedom fighter during the War of Independence, professor Sultana Zaman established an orphanage (Khela Ghar) for abandoned children found in the refugee camps at Kalyani in West Bengal in India near the Jashore border.
She went on to establish an Advanced Dressing Station for injured freedom fighters and civilians at Sona Masjid in Chapainawabganj, which was a subsector within Sector 7 that was commanded by her husband, late Lieutenant Colonel Quazi Nooruzzaman, Bir Uttam.
In 1972, she assisted many women in the Rajshahi division who had pregnancies inflicted on them by the Pakistani Army to find medical assistance and aftercare for their babies.
Professor Sultana Zaman has left behind two daughters, professor Naila Zaman Khan and dancer and researcher Lubna Marium and grandchildren and their families.
Her son, Quazi Nadeem Omar, a freedom fighter, predeceased her.
She died on this day in 2020.
On the occasion of her death anniversary, prayers and memorial services have been organised in the Inclusive Schools run by the Bangladesh Protibondhi Foundation, according to the press release.
Wreaths will be placed at her grave and an effort to rename the Bangladesh Institute for Special Education after her name will also be initiated by the Board of Trustees of the foundation, said the release.
In 2025, the Institute for Special Education, founded by her in 1984, has been renamed the Sultana Sarwatara Zaman Insititute for Special Education by National聽University.聽