Pushing our children into a big void

It appears to have become de rigueur on the part of influential persons in this country to call children 'the future of the nation'. They never miss an opportunity. In their speeches, seminar talks or interviews, national leaders show their deep worries for children. It covers all -- no matter if one is in power or in the opposition.
In the spate of violence that has been rocking the country for nearly two weeks, children are among the worst victims. In the 2013 political mayhem, the Burn Unit at Dhaka Medical College Hospital had to endure the screams and faint groans of babies and teenagers.
Many were injured in crude bomb or molotov cocktail blasts while travelling by rickshaw or different types of vehicles to school, and some got burnt in blazing buses or trains. The number of bomb splinter-hit children was also upsetting. Few of them were later able to return to normal life, many became physically crippled. Some others had to leave this world prematurely.
As the mindless savagery at that time reached its zenith, heart-rending scenes of similar nature appeared in urban areas throughout the country. Fully equipped hospitals or clinics were beyond the reach of many ill-fated children outside the capital. Innocent children had nothing to do with the confrontational politics, which had triggered the violence.
The general people cannot but cringe in fear as they see the virtual return of the nightmares that hounded children two years back. Given the fast rise in the ongoing violence over a political impasse and the intensifying premonitions, the parents of school-going children might be bracing for bouts of insomnia.
In the cities, schools remain shut. The students who have received fresh books in the new academic year feel heartbroken. They cannot share their joy of leafing through the books with their classmates. Term examinations at many colleges had to be put on hold amid the spiralling turbulence. Worried parents would not let their sons or daughters travel to colleges and back. To remain safe, the management authorities keep the colleges shut. Nobody knows exactly when the academic activities at these schools and colleges will resume.
In these maddeningly turbulent times, depriving our children of normal education, we cannot expect them to emerge as the nation's future. If we do that, then it would be a sham of epochal proportions. This is what those at the helm of this country, and those aspiring, have been doing for over four decades. True, one or another government has proved its sincerity by opening time-befitting academic opportunities for children. But, ironically, they could not stick to their lofty missions.
It's either due to flawed policies, administrative malfunctions or fallout of restive times that led well-meaning governments to bite the dust. Things eventually got messed up in the education sector, as in the other areas. It has been going on for decades. Political unrest keeps weighing in at intervals; eventually emerging as a major deterrent to ensuring all-round welfare for our lower-grade students. That it is the nation that one day has to pay dearly for it becomes evident as days go by. The poor standard of higher education in the country speaks volumes about it.
To our despair, few culturally rich nations in the present world have to meet this misfortune. Rightfully, we can feel proud of our achievements in the world of scholarly pursuits in the past. In our oratorical exercises, we place education at the stellar position when it comes to national progress; we discover our future in children. But deeds do not match words. Amid the grim developments haunting our young learners in the last couple of years, we keep on seeing how "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold" -- to quote WB Yeats.
Watching killer flames devour everything meaningful as they grow up, school bags wrapped around their shoulders, the children remain cowered for the rest of their lives. It's difficult to jerk off the ghost of childhood traumas. Children coming of age through phases of shock and horror cannot be expected to prove themselves as architects of the nation's future. This absurd expectation embodies yet another cruel blow to our children.  
shihabskr@ymail.com