High duty on children's books
Children love to paint. It is an exercise that helps their mental growth. You just have a look at a kid's painting .What strikes you is colour-- green, yellow or red run riot through the whole piece. The point is that a child is liberal as far as putting colour on paper is concerned. A child, in other words, paints a dream-like image. There is something special about children's painting : it manifests imagination in the raw.
The recent budget clamped a 25% duty on picture books meant for children on the ground that those books undermine our culture. We cannot but say that this is silly logic. Being a developing country, Bangladesh should give maximum priority to education. As such it will be unwise to do anything that discourages the pursuit of learning .
In this poverty-ridden country, few children are privileged enough to have access to standard elementary education. The recent increase in the prices of books will make elementary education more expensive. It will push standard elementary education out of the reach of the middle class.
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