In February, two beautiful events take place in our country. The first is the annual cultural and sports programs held in schools and colleges across the nation. The second is the book fair at the Bangla Academy premises. However, unfortunately, there is no coordination between these two wonderful events. Participants in school and college annual cultural programs receive plates and glasses as prizes! The awards ceremony stage is adorned with neatly arranged plates, saucers, mugs, and glasses. I am unsure how this appears to those with refined taste or how they react to it.
For organizers, arranging such awards is incredibly easy! They simply fix a budget, go to the market, and ask shopkeepers to pack them up. No hassle of selection or scrutiny. Students receive these prizes, take them home, and use them to eat rice and drink water! Mothers, feeling proud of their child’s achievement, carefully place them in display cabinets. Fathers call over friends and neighbours, proudly showcasing the prize, saying, “Look at what my child has accomplished!”
To give books as prizes, one needs to search for suitable books, read them, and ensure they are available in libraries. The process is complex and slightly more expensive. Do organizers today have the time for such effort? Moreover, books often carry political ideologies, and different ideologies are banned at different times—making books a challenging choice as prizes. In contrast, plates and glasses are smooth—free from complications and controversy!
But can plates and glasses bring about a psychological transformation in students? I don’t know. But books can. Books certainly can. They have done so in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
Within the black letters of a book lies life. The biographies of countless thinkers, timeless wisdom, and the works of Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, or Jibanananda Das can inspire students to become the next Rabindranath, an expanded Humayun Ahmed, or a thought leader like Abdullah Abu Sayeed. But educational institutions do not seem to want this. Neither do most parents. To them, “books” mean only textbooks.
Many respected teachers do not encourage students to read books beyond the syllabus. Sadly, some of them do not read books themselves—not even the ones they teach in class! As a result, while students’ hunger for food and material possessions increases, their hunger for knowledge and intellectual growth remains stagnant. Since plates and glasses cater to physical hunger, it is only natural for students to lean toward materialistic pursuits.
However, if students were given two thoughtfully chosen books based on their age and interests, it could be immensely beneficial for them. It would help reshape their perspectives, foster critical thinking, and ultimately contribute to societal transformation. The much-needed reforms in our nation would accelerate.
Plates and glasses hold no real value in stimulating intellectual growth, fostering positive perspectives, or increasing students’ thirst for knowledge. A book can achieve what a saucer cannot. Books do not just make people knowledgeable; they inspire honesty, humanity, and responsibility. They instill patriotism, teach students to question, and give them the courage to protest against wrongdoing.
Over time, humans have found countless alternatives to plates and glasses, but there is no alternative to books. Sacred scriptures have always been instrumental in shaping individuals, and bound volumes of great thinkers’ ideas have continued to nurture intellectual growth.
As a nation, we stand at a crucial point where we desperately need a psychological awakening. Our country’s progress depends on how far our students can take it. Instead of handing students plates and saucers as rewards, it is a thousand times more necessary to hand them meaningful books. The absence of such initiatives is alarmingly evident.
Even though it might sound harsh, textbooks alone—while essential—are not enough to deepen students’ thinking! They merely serve as tools for completing an academic year. True books—poetry, stories, novels, or collections of essays—are what truly matter. Reading autobiographies of great individuals and learning about the lives of successful people broaden students’ minds and help shape them into compassionate human beings.
In Canada, a country known for its strong emphasis on education and literacy, books are often used as rewards and tools for intellectual growth. Public libraries across Canada actively promote a reading culture by organizing book fairs, reading challenges, and literary events that encourage young minds to explore beyond their textbooks. Schools frequently integrate storytelling and creative writing into their curriculum, nurturing critical thinking and imagination. The Canadian education system understands that knowledge is the true wealth of a nation.
In this era, we need more than just ordinary individuals—we need creative, skilled, and honest people. Books can help us achieve that. Through reading, we can nurture enlightened individuals, just as many successful nations like Canada have demonstrated. If we truly wish to see our students shape the future, we must start by putting the right books in their hands.
