The United Nations just declared Bangladesh the world’s healthiest country. The UN secretary general urged all to follow Bangladesh as a role model. 

A surprising new study published yesterday revealed that the purpose of development in any country is to improve the lives of its citizens.

Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussain is an author, analyst and a former election commissioner. Recently he has talked to Mohiuddin Alamgir of The Daily Star on different issues including electoral reforms and proposals placed by political parties during the EC talks.

From a staggered national election to a proportional representation system -- the Election Commission has been flooded with a whopping number of proposals placed by 28 political parties on the electoral reforms during the recently concluded dialogue.

Anyone following the extraordinary feats of our native mountaineer, activist, and social worker, Wasfia Nazreen, will know that she has very recently conquered one of the most treacherous mountains in the world, the fearsome K2.

Wasfia Nazreen is mostly known for being the only Bangladeshi and the first Bengali to climb the Seven Summits or, the highest mountains of every continent.

Eminent academician Prof Dr Siddiqur Rahman was a former director of Institute of Education and Research, Dhaka University, and one of the members of National Education Policy 2010 formulation committee. Recently he talked to Md Shahnawaz Khan Chandan of The Daily Star about the reforms required in English medium schools.

English medium schools have been charging exorbitant admission and tuition fees in the absence of any guidelines and monitoring, making it a constant struggle for guardians, especially those belonging to the middle-income bracket, to continue their children’s education.

Members of minority communities are coming under attacks frequently. About 20,000 criminal cases have been filed in connection with these attacks in the last two decades. 

Islam is a religion of peace which never supports any violent activities against people of other religions, said Maulana Mohiuddin Kasham, a pesh imam of Baitul Mukarram National Mosque.

* Bigots vandalised and set fire to Buddhist temples and Buddhist households in Ramu and Ukhiya, after spreading rumour that the Facebook page of a local Buddhist youth was bearing a photo demeaning Islam.

The Narail mayhem is not an isolated incident. It is a part of series of attacks being carried out one after another across the country in the last few years with a goal to wipe out minorities from the country.

This is yet another disturbing headline that highlights a pattern of violence against minority communities.

Q. What is happening to our haors (the vast wetlands in the country’s north-eastern region) and how has that impacted the flood situation?

For around a month now, all four districts in the Sylhet division have been enduring floods with the water receding slowly from many areas and thousands left to suffer.

Kamal Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury is a professor of the department of clinical psychology of Dhaka University and programme director of Nasirullah Psychotherapy Unit – an outpatient mental health unit managed by DU’s department of clinical psychology. He has been researching adolescent mental health and juvenile delinquency for decades. Recently he talked to The Daily Star about the sudden rise of criminal behaviour among youths and adolescents.

The Cabinet Committee on Law and Order at the home ministry recently suggested that the legal age determining who is a “child” be lowered.

They were never part of the political elite. Neither were they among the wealthy. Yet they were always considered the most revered and respected members of society because they were teachers -- high school teachers in particular.    

The headmaster of Piyar Sattar Latif High School in Narayanganj was assaulted on May 13, 2016 by a mob in presence of Jatiya Party lawmaker Salim Osman over allegations that he made derogatory comments about religion while meting out corporal punishment to a student. A judicial probe found him innocent. No charges were pressed against Osman.

In the first six months of this year, three incidents of violence against teachers became newspaper headlines, showing a disturbing trend that is contrary to our traditional values of respecting and honouring teachers.