Dr. Md. Alamgir Hossain

Bangladesh Student Association of Kansas University (BSAKU) and Bangladesh Association of Greater Kansas City (BAGKC) jointly observed ‘Amar Ekushey’ as the ‘International Mother Language Day’ with due solemnity and honor on February 20, 2005 at the auditorium of ECM in Lawrence, Kansas. Discussion, slide show, children’s art competition and poetry recitation were the events of the day. The program was attended by about 50 people from the area of Kansas and Missouri. A portable Shahid Minar built by Arif Joarder was the added attraction of the program.

Several people of Bangladesh sacrificed their lives on February 21 in 1952, in defending the dignity and recognition of “Bangla” as a state language of the former East Pakistan, the present Bangladesh. The success of the “Language Movement” ultimately led to the long-drawn struggle for independence and eventually resulted in the liberation of Bangladesh on December 16, 1971. On November 17, 1999, UNESCO declared “February 21” as the International Mother Language Day, and this day is now being observed in nearly 200 countries around the world.   

To remember the immortal martyrs, the day's programs started with the famous ‘Ekushey song’, “Amar Bhaiyer Rockte Rangano Ekushey February, Ami Ki Bhulitey Pari”, followed by a slide show. Munira Khan, Salma Alamgir Rekha and Niru Nazmun Nahar recited the selected Bangla poems in the poem reading session, chaired by Dr. Salma Kamal.

Mr. M. F. Hussain presided over the discussion meeting where Dr. Mustafa Kamal and Minhajul Islam explained the significance of the day. Among the others who spoke on the occasion were Tawfiq Hussain, Saiful Islam, Dewan Zamir, Farid Hasan. The speakers stressed that the observance of such program in this society is important for our children. “It is our duty to educate our children about the glorious history of our language movement”, said Dr. Mustafa Kamal. The audience enjoyed the talk of Minhajul Islam who shared his personal memories during the period of language movement in Dhaka.

The exciting part of this program was the children’s art competition on the “Language Movement”. Nearly ten children participated in the art competition. A panel of judges (Dr. Mustafa Kamal, Tawfiq Hussain, and Khorshed Alam) selected Saadman (age 4) as the first winner. Rayyan (age 10) and Joitree (age 5) were the second and third, respectively.  “We had really hard time to decide the best three arts from the beautiful works drawn by our children” said Tawfiq Hussain. “All of them did excellent jobs”.  

"The Kansan", a daily newspaper of the University of Kansas, did a full coverage on February 18, 2005 to mark the “International Mother Language Day”*. In addition, on February 22 BSAKU arranged an ‘Information Table’ for the international students in Kansas Union at the University of Kansas.  

*http://www.kansan.com/stories/2005/feb/17/news_campus_language