California, December 29: The International Gita Society (IGS) USA opened a school for the poor Hindu Children named, "Vishwa Niketan" school in Subidhat Village of Dinajpur District in Bangladesh.
The occasion was graced by the IGS, Bangladesh President Mr. Bishwanath Roy and other local elites on December 21. Hindu citizens participated in the function in large scale.
President Shri Roy announced that the Bhagavad Gita and a syllabus of Balgokulam prepared by the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, USA are the integrated part of the school curriculum.
Balagokulam is a forum where Children learn a sense of responsibility and grow up to be an ideal citizen. Syllabus taught in balagokulam has been designed with attention to detail and to impart knowledge in an organized and enjoyable way. It is designed for two age groups (5-8 and 9-12).
This education initiative of the IGS, Bangladesh was lauded by Jaydeep Chaudhari, Vice President of the IGS USA (a parent organization). Mr. Chaudhari looks for a large scale expansion of the IGS activities in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka in upcoming years based on the Bhagavad Gita.
The IGS was founded by Dr. Ramanananda Prasad, Retired U.S.Navy Official and Professor of San Jose State University in 1984. The IGS is a registered, non-profit and spiritual institution in the United States of America.
The IGS have distributed more than 100,000 Bhagavad Gita copies around the world for free till date.
The need for such initiative by IGS arose in Bangladesh due to discrimination of Hindus and other minority groups in the country. Minority groups are denied equal status and opportunities in education and work and often compel to sacrifice their culture.
According to report of Amarendra Roy, President of BHBCUC Europe and Director HRCBM-EU Board & External Relations in 2008 in Conference in the United Nations some of shocking findings reveal the pathetic condition of education system for minorities in Bangladesh.
The process of Islamization during Zia and Ershad regimes in Bangladesh renewed the flow of minorities due to unequal application of Law humiliation, discrimination in service and violation of human rights of Hindus.
Minorities are subject to state sponsored discrimination when in rights to education. Most of the children from minority and Hindu religion are disadvantaged by an education system that does not recognize their language, culture or future livelihood realities. They are forced to learn in a language they do not know or understand.
Though Bengali language has been developed from the offshoot of Sanskrit’s known as “Pali”, government has enacted institutions that are hitherto working to remove influence of Sanskrit by redefining word construct and increasing the influence of Arabi and Urdu.
The syllabus in the secondary level of education curriculum has been manipulated giving it communal tune while ignoring historical significance and contribution of religious minorities in literature as well in country’s history.
There has been allegation that minority candidates of Bangladesh Civil Service exam are directly discriminated. Despite their outstanding result, those candidates are deprived of deserved placements.
The Sanskrit and Hindu religious University (Saraswata Samaj) in Dhaka closed and it’s land and assets was confiscated by the government of in a bid to wipe out Hindu educational system which was in operation before independence of Bangladesh.
Another major threat to regular education system is the acceptance of Madrasa based education as the equivalent of regular education system. Government has invested heavily in madrasa education then in regular education system.
Hinduism is the second largest religious affiliation in Bangladesh, covering more than 9.2% of the population. Therefore, there is a dire need to strengthen existing higher education system in Bangladesh as well initiate project that will provide opportunity for minorities to obtain true education without compromising their cultural rights.
International Gita Society has taken first step towards ensuring equal education opportunities to poor Hindu students on Bangladesh.