Shamsad Mortuza | The Daily Star
Skip to main content
Home
Wednesday, April 22, 2026
El Niño may return, raising concerns over rising heat in Bangladesh
‘We still hope a solution on the reforms will arise out of parliament’
Where are Iran’s frozen assets held and how much is stuck abroad?
বাংলা

Main navigation

  • News
    • Politics
    • Governance
    • Crime and Justice
    • Accidents and Fires
    • Technology
    • Education
    • Healthcare
    • Environment
    • World
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Views
    • Interviews
    • Tribute
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Agriculture
    • Industry
    • Startups
    • Global Economy
  • Sports
    • Cricket
    • Football
    • Tennis
    • More Sports
  • Lifestyle
    • Fashion
    • Relationships
    • Health and Wellness
    • Food and Recipe
    • Travel and Leisure
  • Culture
    • Entertainment
    • Books and Literature
    • Heritage
    • TV & Film
    • Music
    • Theatre & Arts
  • Slow Reads
    • In Focus
    • Geopolitical Insights
    • Big Picture
    • Unheard Voices
  • Youth
    • Academics
    • Career and Skills
    • Campus Life
    • Off Campus
    • Pop Culture
  • Ds+
    • Business +
    • Investigative Stories
    • Roundtables
    • Supplements
    • Law & Our Rights
    • My Dhaka
  • বাংলা
  • E-paper
  • Today’s News
Wednesday, April 22, 2026
  • E-paper
  • Today’s News
  • News
    • Politics
    • Governance
    • Crime and Justice
    • Accidents and Fires
    • Technology
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Healthcare
    • World
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Views
    • Interviews
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Agriculture
    • Industry
    • Startups
    • Global Economy
  • Sports
    • Cricket
    • Football
    • More Sports
    • Tennis
  • Lifestyle
    • Fashion
    • Relationships
    • Heath and Wellness
    • Food and Recipe
    • Travelogue
  • Culture
    • Entertainment
    • Books and Literature
    • Heritage
    • Tv & Film
    • Music
    • Theatre & Arts
  • Slow Reads
    • In Focus
    • Geopolitical Insights
    • Big Picture
    • Unheard Voices
  • Youth
    • Academics
    • Career and Skills
    • Campus Life
    • Off Campus
    • Pop Culture
  • Ds+
    • Business +
    • Investigative Stories
    • Roundtables
    • Supplements
    • Law & Our Rights
    • My Dhaka

Footer

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Comment policy
  • Apps
  • Archive
© 2026 thedailystar.net | Powered by: RSI Lab

Copyright: Any unauthorized use or reproduction of The Daily Star content for commercial purposes
is strictly prohibited and constitutes copyright infringement liable to legal action.

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
photo_prabir_das_1.jpg

Walking in the city

The stories come alive when you walk in the city and meet the faces that form the mass.
21 October 2022, 14:00 PM
ed_1_-_university_ranking_announcement_and_the_morning_after_-_star.jpg

University ranking announcement and the morning after

The oldest private university in Bangladesh is giving its oldest public university a run for its money.
14 October 2022, 12:15 PM
ed_1_new_visual.png

Is it too easy to become a professor in Bangladesh?

The academic rank diagram needs to look like a pyramid where few professors are located at the apex.
7 October 2022, 15:00 PM
panchagarh karatoa boat capsize

To kill a mocking monster

What prompted those devoted pilgrims in Panchagarh to ride an overcrowded boat and join a death march on the Korotoa River?
30 September 2022, 13:30 PM
migrant-workers-death_1.jpg

Is it Destination Death for our migrant workers?

Five hundred deaths a month. Is that natural?
23 September 2022, 18:00 PM
op_1_-_the_government_in_search_of_a_columnist_collage_-_salman_sakib_shahryar.jpg

The government’s search for a columnist

There is nothing wrong with such a strategy of recruiting media operatives. However, the open nature of the search robs the ploy of its X-factor and thereby self-sabotages its purpose.
16 September 2022, 16:00 PM
ed_1_-_leave_the_private_universities_out_of_bl_politics.png

Leave private universities out of BCL politics

The private universities are doing just fine without the presence of partisan politics.
9 September 2022, 14:00 PM
plagiarism.jpg

Plagiarism: A menace in the academic world

Our universities were mostly designed as teaching universities. Even many of our iconic professors are not good researchers.
2 September 2022, 16:00 PM
Suicide prevention is a complex issue that requires professional interventions. We need institutionalised therapeutic interventions to save lives, and stand by those who need support for their mental health conditions.

Suicide prevention must embrace nuances and complexities

Suicide is a complex issue that requires institutionalised, therapeutic interventions to save lives, and stand by those who need support for their mental health condition.
26 August 2022, 16:00 PM
The recent strike called by the Bangladesh Cha Sramik Union (BCSU) has brought the sufferings of our tea workers to the fore. They are demanding a minimum wage of Tk 300 a day to improve their day-to-day lives.

The real worth of a cup of tea

Tea is a sector that requires time and patience. The problem with our new entrepreneurs is that they all want instant yields.
19 August 2022, 15:00 PM
mujib1.jpg

The personal is political

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was murdered 47 years ago.
14 August 2022, 18:00 PM
Bangladesh's failure in Zimbabwe: Woe of the Tigers

Bangladesh's collapse in Zimbabwe: Woe of the Tigers

The recent results in Zimbabwe have shown that Bangladesh did not do any homework on their young opponents.
13 August 2022, 02:00 AM
shamsad.png

Why the mismatch between what we study and what we do?

There is no serious study on the kind of jobs that are out there and the kind of degrees or training that we are providing in our academic institutions.
6 August 2022, 08:05 AM
The cooling conundrum

The cooling conundrum

One of the first 'culprits' of energy leakage identified during the first week of the government’s austerity drive was air conditioners.
29 July 2022, 15:00 PM
Bangladesh Railway and the political dynamite

Bangladesh Railway and the political dynamite

Dhaka University student Mohiuddin Roni has been staging a remarkable protest ever since he fell victim to the irregularities of Bangladesh Railway.
22 July 2022, 15:00 PM
teachers-respect-1984-orwell.png

The fault in our star-gazing: Do we care about teachers?

The beating of the principal is symptomatic of a time when teachers have lost their “value” in the system.
15 July 2022, 14:00 PM
piggy_bank.jpg

A sobering call for austerity

In a rare public call, our prime minister has asked us all to maintain austerity.
8 July 2022, 14:00 PM
respect.png

In search of lost respect

The recent spate of attacks on teachers by individual students or certain groups make many of us revisit the very notion of respect for teachers.
1 July 2022, 18:00 PM
terminal-3-airport.jpg

Will Terminal 3 be everything we want it to be?

One of my favourite films, Love Actually (2003), begins with the narrative voice of “the British prime minister” (Hugh Grant) saying, “Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport.
17 June 2022, 18:00 PM
ed_1_-_pay_peanuts_get_monkeys_-_education_budget_-_star.png

If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys

The allocation for education in the proposed budget for FY2022-23 leaves a lot to be desired.
10 June 2022, 13:39 PM

Pagination

  • Show more
Home
Journalism without fear or favour
Follow Us

Footer

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Comment policy
  • Apps
  • Archive
© 2026 thedailystar.net | Powered by: RSI Lab

Copyright: Any unauthorized use or reproduction of The Daily Star content for commercial purposes
is strictly prohibited and constitutes copyright infringement liable to legal action.