Apply knowledge for betterment of the downtrodden

Education Minister Dr M Osman Farruk confers IUB fellowship on Prof Dr Geof Wood of University of Bath, UK, at the 10th convocation ceremony of Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) in the city yesterday

A total of 355 students from various disciplines were awarded degrees at the convocation. Two students won gold medals for their outstanding academic performances.

Inaugurating the convocation, Education Minister Dr M Osman Farruk called on the graduating students to continue their search for knowledge and apply it not just for personal betterment but also for the defence of the downtrodden.

"Enrich yourselves with high moral principles of integrity, conscience and love for humanity to render the desired service to the people. The nation and the world expect a lot from you," he said.

The minister said the BNP-led four-party alliance government has given most priority to the education sector. "We have allocated the highest budget for education in 2006-07 fiscal year," he added.

He also hoped that the IUB would continue to play its due role in producing graduates with right education, training and skills to meet the challenges of higher education.

Renowned sociologist Dr Geof Wood, a professor of international development and dean of the faculty of humanities and Social Science, University of Bath, UK, gave the convocation speech on 'Expatriates' role and contribution to the development of Bangladesh'.

He said Bangladesh appeared to be the experimental locus of development ideas and practices during the first two decades of liberation.

But over the last decade, with the continuation of widespread poverty and the significant rise of new urban poverty through migration and demographic transformation, questions of culture and social organisation towards a more sovereign and nationalist version of development are increasingly raised, he said.

IUB Vice Chancellor Prof Bazlul Mobin Chowdhury told the graduates that the convocation is not the end of learning, rather the beginning of a process of learning.

"You are now at the threshold of an entirely new life. Your families, countrymen and the nation as a whole have great expectations of you," he said.

IUB Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof M Omar Rahman, Chairman of Education, Science, Technology and Cultural Development Trust Towhid Samad and IUB Registrar Dr Tanvir Ahmed Khan also spoke.