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BLOWIN' IN THE WIND

Shamsad Mortuza

BLOWIN' IN THE WIND

Dr Shamsad Mortuza is the vice-chancellor of the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB).

Cox’s Bazar Tourism Problems

Cox’s Bazar at the crossroads of beauty without design

18 April 2026, 11:00 AM
Nobody questions the potential of Cox’s Bazar. Clearly, it can compete with any of the top-class beaches elsewhere. For that, the administrators need to think beyond immediate, narrow interests. They need to plan access roads despite local pressures.
18 April 2026, 11:00 AM
ed1.jpg

Blended learning in an energy crisis: Innovation or institutional amnesia?

11 April 2026, 08:00 AM
“My classroom has four ceiling fans, but if we are to attend online classes from home, we will need 50 fans.”
11 April 2026, 08:00 AM
Long_queues_ED_1.jpg

Austerity and the crisis of fuel, confidence and coordination

4 April 2026, 09:00 AM
Last week, while buying vegetables from an open market, I could not help feeling dissatisfied over the hiked price of every item. “It seems you are still in a moon-sighting mode,” I said, to which the seller responded nonchalantly, “What can I do?
4 April 2026, 09:00 AM
Cumilla_trainbus_crash-ED_1.jpg

The surcharge of Eid-time tragedies

28 March 2026, 08:00 AM
In Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot, a character with supposed authority intensifies the absurdity by quantifying emotion.
28 March 2026, 08:00 AM
ED_1.jpg

The unfinished promise to Bangladesh’s women

14 March 2026, 02:15 AM
Given the election results, one could assume that the female voters have registered a clear electoral message. They do not want to retreat into the margins of civic life. And why should they?
14 March 2026, 02:15 AM
ED-1.jpg

When our indifference breaks our children

7 March 2026, 01:16 AM
The posthumous Swadhinata Padak for Maherin Chowdhury, a teacher who died saving at least 20 students from the burning remains of Milestone School and College after it was hit by a fighter jet last year, brought back sad memories of losing children and teachers in a single tragic blow.
7 March 2026, 01:16 AM
ED_1.jpg

Depoliticise institutions, not ideas

28 February 2026, 01:06 AM
Not often do you hear a politician saying that “politicising education, research, and the practice of arts and literature is never a mark of a civilised society.”
28 February 2026, 01:06 AM
ED_1__Ekushey_Boimela.jpg

What the scheduling fiasco of Ekushey book fair tells us

21 February 2026, 02:05 AM
Ekushey February (February 21) is a date that reminds the Bangladeshi people of their culture as well as their originary moments.
21 February 2026, 02:05 AM
Defiance in tongue and spirit

Defiance in tongue and spirit

What looks like linguistic chaos is in fact linguistic vitality.
20 September 2025, 05:00 AM
ducsu_prabir.jpg

When campus politics takes the centre stage

The disproportionate attention given to student polls exposes the political vacuum created by the country's eroded electoral culture.
12 September 2025, 14:20 PM
fb3aop_1_buet_students_vs_police_amran_hossain_file_29082025_a88c_sbs.jpg

Why are BSc and diploma engineers at war?

There is another underlying issue: a serious scarcity of professional jobs and a mismatch between higher education and the labour market demands.
30 August 2025, 04:00 AM
034fop_1_the_anatomy_of_a_suicide_note_salman_22082025_0904_sbs.jpg

The anatomy of a suicide note

A family of four died to avoid the trap of debt and pain of hunger.
23 August 2025, 04:00 AM
3aa6op_1_ducsu_wikimedia_commons_15082025_caa7_sbs.jpg

DUCSU polls 2025: Democracy’s dress rehearsal?

We can view the holding of DUCSU polls (followed by JUCSU and RUCSU polls in the same month) as a step towards rebuilding democracy from the foundation.
16 August 2025, 10:20 AM
The cracks in Bangladesh’s education system

The cracks in Bangladesh’s education system

Our education system has stunted the cognitive development of our youth.
9 August 2025, 04:00 AM
21d2op_2_la_luta_literaria_shamsad_01082025_6136_sbs.jpg

The struggle continues

Revolutionary literature all over the world has shown the frequent bitterness of post-independence betrayal.
2 August 2025, 05:00 AM
unnamed.jpg

It’s time we turned to inclusive, trauma-informed pedagogy

It is becoming increasingly evident that intergenerational chemistry is no longer present.
26 July 2025, 05:00 AM
SSC result debacle 2025

Who will own up to the SSC debacle?

We must own up to our role not only in success but also in failure.
19 July 2025, 02:00 AM
freedom_of_speech.jpg

Time to rethink media transformation

Media today has transformed into a spectacular performance focused on visibility.
12 July 2025, 04:00 AM
violence against children in Bangladesh 2026

We cannot let violence silence our daughters

What is perhaps more insidious than the acts themselves is the language that now surrounds them. The lexicon of liberation has deliberately opted for expletives.
5 July 2025, 04:00 AM
University rankings

Understanding the university ranking mismatch

We need to change our mindset and up our game to improve our universities’ standing.
21 June 2025, 04:00 AM
coxsbazar

When leisure turns lethal

The alarming number of deaths gives Cox’s Bazar bad press.
14 June 2025, 04:00 AM
moghbazar mugging

Rising crime, institutional failure, and the bystander effect

The collective numbness contradicts the spirit with which the masses stormed the streets in July last year.
31 May 2025, 06:33 AM
1116op_1_barishal_university_protest_against_vc_titu_23052025_1c9d_sbs_1.jpg

In search of a vice-chancellor

Central to the formation of the panel is the objective of minimising political interference in the selection of top university managers.
24 May 2025, 03:00 AM
op_2_-_jnu_students_vs_police.jpg

JnU crisis exposes the rot in our higher education system

Central to the JnU crisis is a list of broken promises.
17 May 2025, 05:00 AM
Air pollution in Dhaka

We need more than air purifiers to clean up Dhaka’s air

It’s easy to dismiss Dhaka as an unliveable city. The challenge is to replace that tantrum with the determination to make the city better.
10 May 2025, 02:00 AM
8893khulna_polytechnic_02052025_1146_sif.jpg

The crisis of a fossilised education system

It will be a crime to miss the post-uprising zeitgeist and not to overhaul our educational sector.
3 May 2025, 05:59 AM
kuet

KUET protests and the evolving student-university relations

KUET has exposed systemic weakness in conflict resolution.
26 April 2025, 02:00 AM
problems faced by Bangladeshi passport holders

The sorry state of our green passports

Bangladeshi passports are ranked among the weakest in the world.
19 April 2025, 04:06 AM

Pagination

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