Letters will only be considered if they carry the writer's full name, address and telephone number (if any). The identity of the writers will be protected. Letters must be limited to 300 words. All letters will be subject to editing.

Pre-paid mobile bad!

A very good point brought up by Mr Istiaque Uddin (Rifat) of RUET -- all the mobile companies favouring the post-paid owners! The leading carrier has started this "discrimination" for more than a month now. If there is no immediate announcement from them regarding reduced rates for pre-paid owners very shortly then it should be viewed as a ploy to force the pre-paid owners to switch to (or take an additional) post-paid package -- thus the mobile company can make some quick money by selling more connections by "artificial creation" of demand!

CNR

Chittagong

Private universities

My thanks to Mustak Hossain for his timely piece on the burgeoning of private universities in Dhaka. He rightly points out that by raising the security required for new universities from 1 crore to 5 crore the authorities inadvertently pushed higher education into the hands of businessmen. In doing so, our authorities abet the alarming slide of higher education into training rather than educating.

There is a vast difference between these functions. One applies to the practical needs of the job seeker trying to acquire skills or the union card needed to "fit in". The other, to the citizen with her/his obligation to raise questions, play a part in society's continuous search for goodness, justice, and creativity, i.e. a soul. With the acute crisis in our social values, the corruption and violence that have become endemic in our political interactions, this degeneration of education is the last thing we need.

I hope that Mustak Hossain intends to continue probing the higher education industry. If he does, I wish he would look into the orientations to be expected from those who are able to muster the 5 crore security deposit. Why have establishments like Dahrul Islam University, which were set up against a security of 1 crore, shown so little inclination to behave like institutions of higher learning? This university was allowed to set up a temporary campus back in 1995 and enabled to acquire 5 Bighas of land in Savar in favourable terms. The understanding was that it would build a proper campus in Savar and move out in year 2000. Yet, it not only continues to operate in Dhanmondi but also has spread over numerous other buildings. The computer department it runs out of an apartment is only the tip of the iceberg. What is it doing with the five Bighas in Savar is a mystery. God help us lest we discover that the rot goes much deeper than honest educators, who wish to set up new places of learning, being unable to shake out 5 crore to get started. I presume, like primary and secondary education, our higher educational system has become nothing but a raw business. This, despite the fact that their faculty draw on some of our most revered academics and respected thinkers who have retired from the public university system. Sultana Alam

On e-mail

Editing standards

Editing is both arts and sciences. A properly edited news item or an article, upon its publication in a newspaper (per se), can help enhance the image of the paper,

sustain the paper's market growth, promote trusted journalism, and provide a learning opportunity to those who would be interested to use the material mentioned as resources for knowledge and decisions. The good news is that a proper and correct use of prepositions in any write-up in English language (as the context permits) can help interpret, among other things, the scientifically established reality of a subject or an object in pertinent areas.

A carelessly or naively edited article (I mean the published one) can, on other hand, destroy the

focus and the underlying message of the article, hurt the credibility of contributor(s) and create confusions in the mind of readers regarding well established theories and concepts - it could even lead them to wrong interpretations and conclusions in relevant areas. One of the purposes of editing is value adding and not otherwise.

The editing standards have come under an intense pressure from an increasingly inter-disciplinary and competitive world. At intellectual levels, the contemporary move towards an integrative use of arts, sciences and engineering say, for understanding, interpreting and solving the problems of human development and economic growth has created a demand for a new set of editing skills. A working level proficiency in inter-disciplinary areas is one of them. Another challenge in the area is connected with

an increase in the number of newspaper contributors (per se) having multidisciplinary academic backgrounds (such as, engineering and management).

Bangladesh needs to promote aggressively liberal arts and English in the country's education domain. It is essential, among other things, for meeting the challenges of the knowledge economy (wherein multi-disciplinary knowledge has a definitive market advantage) and those of editing. The country should afford relevant staff members of the mass media a regular opportunity for training on editing (etc.) for re-

tooling purposes.

Donors can support the effort of Bangladesh in the area mentioned under a national programme like: Capacity Development of Mass Media People. If a similar

programme does exist, then its

effectiveness should be enhanced and the public be informed periodically about its success, working-inprogress and other developments. Dr. M. S. Haq New York

Learning English and The Daily Star

English language of late has become a global demand because of its universal appeal lying in every sphere of life. To meet the requirements of the new era and to cope with the populace of developed countries learning English has become an absolute necessity. It is

worth mentioning here that Daily Star happens to be the best English daily in Bangladesh. Because Daily Star continues to publish several news along with columns, and above all the editorials are written down with justifiable proves. And the renowned writers are regularly writing in Daily Star using the latest words and phrases in exhaustive details for all types of readers. So for people like me it is a fact that there is no other way than to read the newspaper daily in order to learn English. I will request those who want to enhance their English to read The Daily Star everyday.

Md. Osman Gni

Bangabandhu Hall, DU

IBA (DU) should change

Ms Samiha Esha spent cumbersome hours in replying to my letter, but I feel it was all unnecessary. Firstly, her points have been full of flaws, and when I have been trying to correct her, she has been constantly denying her own statements and making up new stories.

Miss if your beautiful dream of being a part of IBA was fully shattered, it is most unfortunate and plays of merit and luck. I am not saying people who don't get chances are incompetent; they are merely at a less advantaged position. You cannot make everyone happy, and professors in IBA are not gods that they can make every dream come true.

Your accusations unfortunately show a personal grudge instead of any genuine flaw that stays in our system.

Arani Siddiqi

IBA, DU

***

This is in response to the letter published in the Daily Star under the above caption on 06.08.03.

This is just a small enlightenment to Ms. Samiha Esha (DS August 8). I understand her frustration regarding the empty seats at IBA and her friends who were deprived of studying at IBA. As an ex-student of IBA, at times I also wondered upon the same issue. Please let me inform that authorities of IBA know very well that every year there will be 1020 seats empty because of students going to other universities, going abroad or simply dropping out. The initial intake is taken keeping this number in mind. The authorities know very well that a smaller number of students will graduate out of the actual admitted number... and that is the way it is designed. This eliminates the need for any waiting list. And so far IBA has been able to keep up its student quality and administrative system to the highest standards.

Z Ahmad

Gulshan, Dhaka

***

This is about the letters Ms. Samiha, Ms. Arani and Mr. Rahmatullah.

I disagree with Ms. Samiha about the waiting list system. But I don't agree with Ms. Arani and Mr. Rahmatullah either about the prevailing fixed seat system.

The waiting list system will surely deteriorate the efficiency and the enviable fame of IBA. On the other hand the fixed seat system is not perfect enough to offer recognition to many meritorious students. It seems like a rat race. So I think it would be better if there were fixed mark system instead of fixed seat system. To make it clear, all those who get at least 70 per cent or 80 per cent (it would be declared by the teachers of the institute in consistence with the question-standard of the admission test making sure that it would justify the required merit of a student for that particular programme) in written test would be called for viva voce. From those 'qualified in written' the teachers would select through viva, regardless of seat numbers, whoever are eligible to carry on their study to the last semester. Then the number might exceed 75 in one year or go down in other. We see a number of students enrolled to fulfil the required seats being dismissed from the programme every year.

I know this idea will seem to many to be strange for it will create some management problems. But I think the problem is not too big as such and there is logic behind this idea. The number of meritorious students of every year is not same. When the GPA system was first launched in the public examination the number of students with GPA-5 was only 76. The following year it was better --330.This year it is remarkable -1392. In the coming years it would be staggering. But the seat number for job-oriented disciplines at public universities is not increasing. Again some ineligible students are getting into sometimes because of fixed seat system.

So I would request the authority of IBA that they think about the idea so that the country can have all the more eligible persons for job market.

Aditya Ahsan

Shukrabad, Dhaka

The blame game Bangladesh is a country with great potentials. It has also so far received help and assistance in cash and kindness from the foreign countries since the independence. But is has hardly made any progress whatsoever. Moreover, it was first known as the bottomless basket, later became the number one corrupt country in the world. It was all due to the failures of our leaders. They have got no foresightedness.

They are leaders no doubt. But not statesmen.

Not a single leader has the power to unite the nation that we saw during the Liberation War and before that. If one government does something that is good for the people and the country, then the next government either cancels it or changes it or stops it. As if it is a crime to continue anything good done by the opposition. Every government is busy in wasting money instead of utilising it properly. Two major political parties -- Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Awami League are busy in mud slinging with one another.

Let me tell a story of Aesop. An old man had five sons but he was miserable because his sons were always engaged in quarrelling and fighting with each other. One day he brought a bundle of sticks and fastened them tightly with a rope and asked each of his sons to break them. But nobody could do so. Then he asked them to break the sticks one by one, this time they succeeded. The old man then told his sons that if they live together like the bundle of sticks then nobody could do any harm to them.

So our dear leaders please remember "United we stand and divided we fall".

Iqbal Ahmed

New Eskaton Road, Dhaka

Necessity of public toilet

In our daily commute from one place to another -- while walking on the street or on the footpath -- there is a chance that you might face an acrid thing. Let me clarify by giving you an example, one day while walking in front of the Highcourt I found few amount of human waste on the side of the footpath. I was repulsed. It makes the footpath dirty. This is a common problem in Dhaka city. I request the authority to immediately make more public toilets, so that the passers by don't need to face such problems.

Haribur Rahman

Dhaka

Unionists press BTTB

This refer to a news published in DS on August 06.

It was shocking to know that Mr. Md.Obaidullah, GM, T&T north Telecom Region, was threatened by the government party supported employees' union for taking punitive steps against some dishonest and corrupt employees of T&T. I, as a T&T subscriber congratulate Mr. Obaidullah on his appropriate action.

In this regard I would draw the attention of the Transparency International Bangladesh Chapter, Consumer Association Of Bangladesh (CAB), the civil society and other non-governmental organisations to pressurise the government

so that no harm is done to the GM for his actions.

Jkobir

Dhaka

Islamic University library

The students of the Islamic University (IU) are unable to derive any benefit from the central library as it is now plagued with many problems including shortage of books and lack of internet, e-mail and modern technological facilities.

Most of the 7500 students under 18 departments of this university often seek for reference books at the central library. But the failure of the library staffs to supply the books frustrates them as the majority of them are not trained, they often fail to find out the right books from the stacks. Moreover the central library

does not have adequate number of foreign newspapers, magazines or journals on various subjects. The supply of foreign newspaper and journals has been stopped from February last. The photocopy machine of the library often remains out of order. As the library has no arrangement to supply drinking water, students doing library work for hours have to go to the nearby tea-stalls to quench their thirst. Drinking of water from tea-stalls exposes them to many health hazards. The toilets of the library always remain dirty and unclean.

I hope the authority takes this into account and tries to solve them as soon as possible.

Altaf Hossain

Islamic University, Dhaka