Two pictures of an upazila chairman and a donor of school land walking on human bridges formed by students of two schools -- one in Chandpur and another in Jamalpur -- have gone viral on the social media. Both the chairman of Haimchar upazila and the land donor of a school in Molandaha upazila attended the annual school sports meet as chief guests.
So they were conferred the honour to take such a walk. The two men considered it their privilege to take part in the physical display. Those who came up with the idea of the chief guests' participation in the physical display or calisthenics did so only to flatter the two men's ego. If they did not find fault with such a degrading display, at least the two pampered men should have realised the indignity involved. The upazila chairman was so insensitive that he had his shoes on when he stepped on a student held aloft by other students. His balancing act was aided by a physical education teacher and others on both sides of the human bridge.
Whether the school in Haimchar upazila has this scandalous tradition is not known but in case of the other incident at Mahmudpur Bahumukhi High School in Jamalpur, it seems to be an annual event. An elder brother of Dildar Hossain who took the walk on the human bridge there claimed if it was not his brother, another person would have done so. According to him, even an upazila nirbahi officer performed the same balancing act the previous year.
So, people do not see any fault with such an abominable performance. Notably, involved here are teachers and students who are too willing to please guests of honour. Now that such shameful obeisance has been reported from two schools, there is every chance that more such incidents will come to light soon. This country's records on such disgraceful acts and their imitation speak for themselves.
In schools and colleges of the United States of America and other Western countries, students put up display of extraordinary physical skills. Teams from educational institutions all over the country compete for the top honour at an annual event. The purpose is to instil in the young men and women the confidence and belief that they are capable of doing what apparently seems to be impossible. In this case, an upazila chairman or any other guest of honour is allowed to trample that confidence and self-belief.
This is obnoxious. Mercifully, the chairman from Haimchar belonging to the ruling Awami League has been temporarily sacked from the party. He has also regretted his action. In case of the Jamalpur incident, though, no regret has been expressed. Both incidents have been a serious affront to human dignity and the men involved should admit how foolish and mindless their acts were. They have seriously compromised the country's image. Once some insane rulers from Africa had near monopoly of performing acts of similar naivety. Now the man in the most powerful position of the only superpower has been playing grotesque antics one after another. Some of those are pretty dangerous too.
Given the opportunity, men like the Haimchar upazila chairman could make a mockery of sanity. Their hubris would have taken them to ever newer extremes and in the process decency would repeatedly become a casualty on all fronts of human society.
- Saturday, 23 November 2024 |
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