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50 years of Bangla Academy

Faizul Khan Tanim
The Bangla Academy, that emerged from the spirit of the strenous struggle of the Language Movement to establish Bangla as the mother tongue will celebrate its Golden Jubilee (1955-2005) with a three-day festival from December 3 to 5.
The authorities of the academy said that till January 2005, more than 4,410 texts, reference books and magazines had been published.
The national academy devotes itself to the development of language, literature and culture.
"We have done intensive research on folklore, language, literature, culture and issues relating to Bangla," said Murshid Anwar, assistant director, department of co-ordination and pub-
lic relations, Bangla Academy. "But to expand our work we need a lot of aid and support from both the state and private organisations,” he added.
He further said joint collaborations between the academy and foreign and local agencies and organisations will portray the academy's operations globally, giving it due recognition.
One official said that seminars, symposiums, workshops with language researchers should be held. Guests to the Academy demanded the collection of information from memories of eminent personalities and produce documentaries and audiovisual programmes. These programmes, he said, will help the newgeneration to understand the origin ofsuch an academy.
Another said that students of local universities should collabo-
rate witli research carried on giving them an opportunity to learn many things left unsaid.
"We brought the academy as far as 50 years, but we want to take it further," added Murshid Anwar.
Academy sources said that textbooks not been updated/revised in a long time.
Selina Hossain, ex-director of the Academy and an eminent writer said that over the past 50 years the institution contributed much to the research of Bangla Language. The dictionary, popularly known as the Bangla Obhidan was one of the most mentionableoutcomes.
But according to a very senior official a crisis prevails witli the Bangla Academy dictionary, which is not timely updated along witli updated versions of Rokeya and Nazrul Rachanabali
and the last volume of the Bangla Science encyclopaedia, although workis complete.
"This dictionary project ranged from Bangla to English
and vice versa along with the colloquial dictionary,” Selina said.
She also mentioned Folklore, the series of books on 101 subjects; events like the Ekushey Boi
Mela, the biggest congregations of writers, readers, publishers and anyone and everyone involved with books from across the country as the academy's successes.
The Bangla Academy had been of immense support to many eminent personalities. The library is rich with 500 rare manuscripts and old newspapers and magazines, which are part of the library's gigantic collection. This collection of material now contributes much to research conducted by the Academy, said Hossain.
When asked about the ongoing crisis and irregularity in updating the textbooks published by tile Academy, the ex-directorsaid: "There is certainly a shortage of funds. But if the money sold from books especially at fairs and other times is
utilised, the problem could be minimised."
When asked why there was a shortage of printed material. Dr Abul Kalarn Manzur Morshed director general (DG) of the Academy said: "A large quantity of the dictionaries were bought by Unicef and therefore the shortage."
"We have however, made arrangements to fill the void and a huge volume is being printed and will be in the market very soon," Dr Abul Kalarn said.
About the future?
"The Academy intends to bring out updated versions pfthe colloquial dictionary compiled by Dr Mohammed Shahidullah and anticipates the arrival of a new science dictionary in Bangla," said the DG.
He also said that Dhan Shalik er Deshey, a popular children's
magazine which had been stopped will be out soon once again along with Chirayoto Kishore Shahitto, which arc translations of famous foreign novels.
Abul Kalarn added that, if the academy had financial support from the government, it hopes to bring out a dictionary for the tribal people, whose language and culture plays a large part in tile Bangla culture and heritage.
About the jubilee celebrations, he shared the same views as Selina Hossain on the achievements made along the way.
The three-day festival has been organised to mark the 50* anniversary and will constitute speeches, cultural programmes and discussion sessions on December 4 and 5 on the achievements and expectations of the Academy.
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