Begum Rokeya Day-2015 and International Female Oppression Prevention Fortnight was observed in different districts of the country on Wednesday, with due respect and in a befitting manner.
Today is the birth and the death day of Begum Rokeya, the harbinger of women renaissance in the sub-continent.
GAIBANDHA: To mark the day, Department of Women Affairs and district administration jointly chalked out elaborate programmes in cooperation with a number of non-government organizations.
In the morning, a grand rally led by whip of the Jatiya Sangsad and local lawmaker Mahabub Ara Begum Gini was brought out from Independence Square and ended on Gaibandha Public Library and Club (GPLC) premises of the town after parading the main roads of the town.
Later, a discussion meeting on the life of Begum Rokeya was held at the hall room of GPLC around 10am with district Women Affairs Officer Habiba Khatun in the chair.
Deputy Commissioner (DC) M. Abdus Samad addressed the meeting as chief guest and Acting Chairman of Sadar upazila parishad Rashida Begum and Vice-Principal of Ahammad Uddin Shah Shishu Niketan School and College Mazharul Mannan were present as special guests.
The speakers said Begum Rokeya was born in a restricted elite Muslim family at Parabond village under Mithapukur upazila in Rangpur district on December 9 in 1880 and died on the same day in 1932 in Kolkata.
Begum Rokeya reawakened the womenfolk through her writings and strongly spoke for the economic freedom and right to education of the Muslim women, they said.
Rokeya's ultimate goal was to educate women, particularly the Muslim women, and her only dream was that when the Muslim women would be educated, they would be able to lift themselves from the mire of superstitions and prejudices, the speakers added.
Later, the guests, in different categories, distributed prizes under the programme of Jayeeta Annweshane Bangladesh to the 10 winners who had prospered in life through struggling and facing different adverse situation and become the model in the society.
A large number of women from all walks of life attended the function spontaneously.
MEHERPUR: Several programmes were chalked out in the district to mark the day.
A colourful rally jointly organised by the district administration and the Women Affairs Office, was brought out in the town, which started from Collectorate Building and ended at local Shilpakala Academy. The rally was led by Khairul Hasan, additional deputy commissioner (general).
After the rally, a discussion meeting was held at the Shilpakala Academy auditorium with A K M Shafiul Azam, district woman affairs officer, in the chair, and Khairul Hasan, ADC, was present as chief guest. Shamim Ara Heera, president, district Mahila Sangstha, Mosharraf Hossain, president, NGO Forum, Meherpur, were, among others, present as special guests.
Speakers at the meeting said that Begum Rokeya had struggled for establishing women rights, freedom, education, empowerment and economic emancipations during her lifetime, creating movement in the then highly conservative colonial society.
Recalling outstanding contribution of Begum Rokeya, ADC Khairul Hasan said she was the first woman to realise that without ensuring education and rights of the womenfolk, a society cannot attain its actual development and civilised status.
A host of women, girls, students, NGO representatives, teachers and journalists joined the programmes.