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Confessions of a Reader
The spotlight story on homebound passengers (published on July 17, 2015) is one of the best I have ever read in my favourite publication, The Star Weekend. While reading the article, I thought it was my own story told in a very charming way by the brilliant writer of the magazine. Besides the spotlight, I also liked the other articles and presentations of the last issue. The issue before Eid was really good with a lot of interesting and enlightening stories. It was everything a reader can expect from a weekend supplement.
Afroza Islam Pinky
Gulshan, Dhaka

The Dilemma with the Creative Question  
We all are quite familiar with the creative question method. It is a common belief that through this method, students do not need to memorise their lessons. From the very beginning, it was expected that this method would make a positive change in our education sector. However in reality, we see just the opposite picture. As soon as this method was implemented, some fraudulent business personnel started to publish illegal guide books. The students now memorise these guide books without reading the main textbook and comprehending the topic at all. Even many educational institutions refer specific guide books to their students. As a result, the entire project of initiating the creative question method has fallen apart causing irreparable harm to our young generation.
Bipul K Debnath
Department of English, Dhaka College

A Right or a Commodity
It is appalling that the Bangladeshi government has imposed value added tax on higher education at private universities. When the entire world is considering higher education and research a top priority of the investment sector to ensure national development, what our government wants to achieve by making it more inaccessible is not at all clear. If the tax is really imposed on the students of private universities, thousands of them may have to drop out and a large part of our higher education will virtually collapse in the near future. I express my solidarity with the protesting students and urge them to continue their movement against this draconian step.
Sarah Farhana
Dhanmondi, Dhaka

Photo: Ripon Kamal