Life in the crosshair
Monday, 22 March 2010
Fazal M. Kamal
With the Great Recession affecting the large majority of people in this country now a whole raft of things are changing in the life of many families. Some are finding it difficult to continue with their existing medical insurance and therefore are moving to government-funded assistance -- which too is facing a dearth of funds -- that is provided for those who cannot afford expensive insurance. Some are having to raid their savings to meet the expenses of daily living with cost of almost everything going up. Some who have lost their jobs are of course confronted with circumstances where they are having to redraw their plans.
Amid such conditions some middleclass families are also concluding that it's necessary to move their children from expensive private schools to the less costly public schools even though these schools are also confronted with shortage of resources. A recent report in Slate by Katharine Mieszkowski states, "The cachet of private school has taken a hit from the Great Recession, as parents question whether they can afford to pay for it, and whether it's really worth the investment." While a parent wrote, "Private schools in our area have assumed unlimited demand -- the recession has many of us reconsidering the true value of pristine campuses, endless deans and lavish arts programmes that train young people to be unemployed."
The Slate story adds, "When I asked readers if they'd recently transferred their children from private to public school or vice versa, or were thinking of doing so, I got a flurry of like e-mails from parents going public. Many of them were forced to pull their children out of private schools because they could no longer afford it, and…they expressed mixed feelings. They lamented the loss of sparkling curricula and enviable amenities. Some simultaneously confided happy surprise at all that's available at their local public schools for free. Others decried unresponsive administrators and tattered textbooks. (I also heard from parents who stopped at the brink of making the switch and detailed the extreme lengths they'd gone to in order to keep their children in private schools…)"
Even though parents chose private schools for their children not only because they could afford it but also because it's generally believed that students at private schools will get better education especially because of smaller class sizes as well as because the students would have a better choice of subjects. However, intriguingly, studies have found that public schools do better in a number of subjects than their private sector counterparts. In one such study it was discovered that in spite of conventional wisdom, public school students outperformed their private school classmates in mathematics, for example, in spite of increasing pressures on funds as they get cut due to the budget shortfalls of the states.
Despite the switch from private schools to public schools by some students major problems of the schools persist. Only this week an official for Detroit Public Schools said more than a quarter of the district's schools will close in June as it struggles with budget issues and declining enrolment.
The official announced the closures of 44 of the district's 172 schools as part of a proposed five-year plan to adjust with resource cutbacks. Six more schools are to close in June 2011, and again seven more a year later. The closures are in addition to the shutting down of 29 schools last year. The nearly 88,000-student district faces a deficit of at least $219 million, according to a wire service report.
However, meantime the Obama administration has taken up the issue of education and is in the process of legislating on it. And not a moment too soon, either. The education system in schools and colleges has not been delivering as needed. For one instance, according to a survey of 17-year-olds in the U.S. carried out in 2008, 33 per cent did not know the Bill of Rights guaranteed freedom of speech and religion while 62 per cent of them could not name the author of The Canterbury Tales.
Fire hazards
There are often fire incidents in the apartment buildings in New York City in which not only is there damage to property and injuries to residents but sometimes they cause deaths as well. Of course a few of these events are criminal acts. But other causes also result in fires breaking out in the homes endangering the life and property of the people living in them. Recently fears have also been voiced by many that due to proposed cutbacks in resources for the fire stations citizens' lives could be placed in more danger. The city administration of course has a differing view.
Nonetheless what's more astonishing is that many of these buildings do not have firefighting equipment or adequate smoke detectors or any sprinkler system that could help in case of a fire. Consequently -- and quite clearly -- such a situation puts the residents of these apartment buildings in great potential danger and more so since some of these buildings have utilised wood extensively in the structures. Additionally, in some of these buildings the elevators are of an uncertain quality.
The city and state governments are very conscious about the safety and protection of those living in this city as is evident in the many actions they often take to meet those objectives. For instance, recently it's been decided that the 24,000 restaurants and other food vendors in New York City would be graded on their sanitary status so that customers can make informed decisions. Likewise, it would certainly make a whole lot of sense for the relevant city inspectors to ensure that apartment building owners do whatever is necessary to make their properties safe for the residents. This is something that obviously has not been done till now.
Neighbourly relations
The present government in Bangladesh has tried to do more than any other administration in recent decades to make relations with our larger neighbour as cordial as possible. It has attempted to address all the "concerns" of the government in New Delhi and has, additionally, offered India almost all that was on its shopping list for years. It has done all this despite criticism within the country and in spite of being accused of a "sell-out." And it has continued to defend its decisions and actions.
But the signals that have been coming in recent days from across the border, especially what has been happening at the border, are most disturbing. That their border forces have been trigger-happy has been evident for a long time, as a consequence of which Bangladeshi citizens often found themselves in the crosshair of their weapons even though protests have been lodged and "flag meetings" have been held. Lately -- and most dishearteningly -- there have been "exchanges of fire" between the border guards of both the countries.
Moreover, there have also been unfortunate incidents in which Bangladeshis at the border face harassments at the hands of Indian security forces. On occasions they are also kidnapped and taken across the border. These events certainly do not in any way assist the building of trust and confidence. Rather they obviously place the government of Bangladesh in a most embarrassing and awkward position---regardless of whatever our foreign minister may declare from time to time.
Given this backdrop, the people of Bangladesh can only continue to hope that more sense will prevail on policy and decision makers, both at the national and state levels, in India so that Bangladesh can for a change see the Indian leaders make genuine efforts to diminish the apprehensions that have grown over the years in Bangladesh for obvious reasons. Simultaneously, the Bangladesh government leaders also have to assert themselves more vigorously in the defence of the country's interests and the protection of its people, and ultimately be persuasive enough to impress upon their counterparts in Delhi that provocations at the border are not merely counterproductive but have definite and persistent negative impacts on relations between the two neighbours.
E-mail : fmk222@gmail.com
With the Great Recession affecting the large majority of people in this country now a whole raft of things are changing in the life of many families. Some are finding it difficult to continue with their existing medical insurance and therefore are moving to government-funded assistance -- which too is facing a dearth of funds -- that is provided for those who cannot afford expensive insurance. Some are having to raid their savings to meet the expenses of daily living with cost of almost everything going up. Some who have lost their jobs are of course confronted with circumstances where they are having to redraw their plans.
Amid such conditions some middleclass families are also concluding that it's necessary to move their children from expensive private schools to the less costly public schools even though these schools are also confronted with shortage of resources. A recent report in Slate by Katharine Mieszkowski states, "The cachet of private school has taken a hit from the Great Recession, as parents question whether they can afford to pay for it, and whether it's really worth the investment." While a parent wrote, "Private schools in our area have assumed unlimited demand -- the recession has many of us reconsidering the true value of pristine campuses, endless deans and lavish arts programmes that train young people to be unemployed."
The Slate story adds, "When I asked readers if they'd recently transferred their children from private to public school or vice versa, or were thinking of doing so, I got a flurry of like e-mails from parents going public. Many of them were forced to pull their children out of private schools because they could no longer afford it, and…they expressed mixed feelings. They lamented the loss of sparkling curricula and enviable amenities. Some simultaneously confided happy surprise at all that's available at their local public schools for free. Others decried unresponsive administrators and tattered textbooks. (I also heard from parents who stopped at the brink of making the switch and detailed the extreme lengths they'd gone to in order to keep their children in private schools…)"
Even though parents chose private schools for their children not only because they could afford it but also because it's generally believed that students at private schools will get better education especially because of smaller class sizes as well as because the students would have a better choice of subjects. However, intriguingly, studies have found that public schools do better in a number of subjects than their private sector counterparts. In one such study it was discovered that in spite of conventional wisdom, public school students outperformed their private school classmates in mathematics, for example, in spite of increasing pressures on funds as they get cut due to the budget shortfalls of the states.
Despite the switch from private schools to public schools by some students major problems of the schools persist. Only this week an official for Detroit Public Schools said more than a quarter of the district's schools will close in June as it struggles with budget issues and declining enrolment.
The official announced the closures of 44 of the district's 172 schools as part of a proposed five-year plan to adjust with resource cutbacks. Six more schools are to close in June 2011, and again seven more a year later. The closures are in addition to the shutting down of 29 schools last year. The nearly 88,000-student district faces a deficit of at least $219 million, according to a wire service report.
However, meantime the Obama administration has taken up the issue of education and is in the process of legislating on it. And not a moment too soon, either. The education system in schools and colleges has not been delivering as needed. For one instance, according to a survey of 17-year-olds in the U.S. carried out in 2008, 33 per cent did not know the Bill of Rights guaranteed freedom of speech and religion while 62 per cent of them could not name the author of The Canterbury Tales.
Fire hazards
There are often fire incidents in the apartment buildings in New York City in which not only is there damage to property and injuries to residents but sometimes they cause deaths as well. Of course a few of these events are criminal acts. But other causes also result in fires breaking out in the homes endangering the life and property of the people living in them. Recently fears have also been voiced by many that due to proposed cutbacks in resources for the fire stations citizens' lives could be placed in more danger. The city administration of course has a differing view.
Nonetheless what's more astonishing is that many of these buildings do not have firefighting equipment or adequate smoke detectors or any sprinkler system that could help in case of a fire. Consequently -- and quite clearly -- such a situation puts the residents of these apartment buildings in great potential danger and more so since some of these buildings have utilised wood extensively in the structures. Additionally, in some of these buildings the elevators are of an uncertain quality.
The city and state governments are very conscious about the safety and protection of those living in this city as is evident in the many actions they often take to meet those objectives. For instance, recently it's been decided that the 24,000 restaurants and other food vendors in New York City would be graded on their sanitary status so that customers can make informed decisions. Likewise, it would certainly make a whole lot of sense for the relevant city inspectors to ensure that apartment building owners do whatever is necessary to make their properties safe for the residents. This is something that obviously has not been done till now.
Neighbourly relations
The present government in Bangladesh has tried to do more than any other administration in recent decades to make relations with our larger neighbour as cordial as possible. It has attempted to address all the "concerns" of the government in New Delhi and has, additionally, offered India almost all that was on its shopping list for years. It has done all this despite criticism within the country and in spite of being accused of a "sell-out." And it has continued to defend its decisions and actions.
But the signals that have been coming in recent days from across the border, especially what has been happening at the border, are most disturbing. That their border forces have been trigger-happy has been evident for a long time, as a consequence of which Bangladeshi citizens often found themselves in the crosshair of their weapons even though protests have been lodged and "flag meetings" have been held. Lately -- and most dishearteningly -- there have been "exchanges of fire" between the border guards of both the countries.
Moreover, there have also been unfortunate incidents in which Bangladeshis at the border face harassments at the hands of Indian security forces. On occasions they are also kidnapped and taken across the border. These events certainly do not in any way assist the building of trust and confidence. Rather they obviously place the government of Bangladesh in a most embarrassing and awkward position---regardless of whatever our foreign minister may declare from time to time.
Given this backdrop, the people of Bangladesh can only continue to hope that more sense will prevail on policy and decision makers, both at the national and state levels, in India so that Bangladesh can for a change see the Indian leaders make genuine efforts to diminish the apprehensions that have grown over the years in Bangladesh for obvious reasons. Simultaneously, the Bangladesh government leaders also have to assert themselves more vigorously in the defence of the country's interests and the protection of its people, and ultimately be persuasive enough to impress upon their counterparts in Delhi that provocations at the border are not merely counterproductive but have definite and persistent negative impacts on relations between the two neighbours.
E-mail : fmk222@gmail.com