A tool to educate children - children's literature in Bangladesh

A tool to educate children
Faizul Khan Tanim interviews Sarwar-ul-Islam, winner of this year’s M Nurul Quader Children’s Literature Award, and finds out why more novels should be written for young people

The award-winning book ‘Kalopori’A child’s delicate heart and mind has its first spark of vivid imagination through bedtime stories and lullabies. Children’s novels introduce the child to people, places and ideas; as well helps build dreams and ambition from their little discoveries and adventures. Story books, most importantly, cultivate affection and create a bond between the child and writing. The words and illustrations from stories not only enhance their vocabulary and strengthen their ability to use language, but it also helps them understand the complexities of everyday life, the country’s history, popular folklores- much-needed for the proper upbringing of every child. Sarwar-ul-Islam, winner of the M Nurul Quader Children’s Literature Award 2007 for his book titled Kalo Pori – the black fairy, says, publishing books for children is difficult and subjects like our country’s history, liberation war and other practical issues should feature more in our children’s stories. Speaking about what sort of topics should be covered in the children’s literature genre, Islam says there should not be any restriction in choosing a topic. ‘I think we should not decide what they want to read’, says Islam, ‘moreover almost all sorts of topics should be incorporated in their novels, for example the liberation war or the rich-poor divide. We need to make sure that those elements are integrated in a way which is reader friendly’. He also believes that it would be easier to get statistics and facts across to children by incorporating them in novels instead of bullet points from text books. That is how we can motivate a child to read. Islam is also critical about the volume of children’s literature being published. ‘Not enough children’s literature is published. And one of the main reasons is that the publishers highly discourage us to write them as releasing children’s books do not bring in a lot of money for the publishing houses. Moreover, our authors do not want to be tagged as writers of children’s novels, as that somewhat indicates a lower status. Most importantly, parents do not put enough emphasis on books, instead buy their children video CDs and DVDs of cartoons.’ According to Islam children should know their roots properly, which includes basic facts about our country, the history and the situation of contemporary Bangladesh and all these information and data can be delivered to them through stories. He reckons that it is the duty of the older generation to buy more books for their kids and build awareness amongst them. Asked about what inspired Islam to select this genre of writing, he spoke about his childhood- when he used to write poems for the children’s section in newspapers. His earliest poems date back to 1984. Altogether, he wrote 22 stories and poem books for children, where the subjects ranged from everyday life to juvenile adventure and mostly, our war of liberation. His writing does not differ a lot from the other contemporary writers but Islam’s ones places more emphasis on patriotism. ‘I think it is the responsibility of both parents and teachers to encourage reading. If the stories contain elements of everyday life and its contents then children will learn about his/her surroundings fast’, added Islam. Islam’s biggest inspiration is Rokonuzzaman Khan, also known as Dadabhai. Born in Dinajpur town, Islam came to Dhaka in 1972, where attended Mirpur Sher-E-Bangla Primary School, completed SSC from Mirpur Adarsha High School, HSC from Dhaka City College and pursued higher education at Dhaka University and completed his Masters Degree in Bangla Literature. His first job was at Daily Ittefaq in 1995 and from 1997 till mid of 1998, he worked for Muktokontho. From 1998 onwards till date, he is working at the Daily Prothom Alo and presently holds the designation of senior sub-editor. He wants to convey a few messages to all his readers and as well as to all the stakeholders associated with the book publishing business – there should be colourful magazines for children on a monthly basis. On International Children’s Day, plenty of speakers on many occasions and events of that day, give large statements but fail to do anything constructive for children, he says. Islam believes that illustrations in children’s books are very important to give a brighter picture and attract children to it, but pictures are chucked out as our publishers want to cut down costs by omitting them. ‘To elaborate on this point, I think that not enough television dramas are produced for children. If you notice, during Eid, children are neglected the most as they do not have much to watch. Our television program sponsors also do not want to support these TV shows. Programs should be catered to the viewing pleasure of children that are educational and fun at the same time: this demands creativity from the producers’, added Islam. Although after our liberation, many writers wrote novels for children, the ratio of books written for children and for adults is extremely wide. Islam says that more stories need to be written which would teach our children the importance of living as individuals in the society, and of the complexities of human relationship. The stories themselves might be labelled in the genre of adventure and fantasy, but they should give lessons of self-dependence and self-confidence. Islam mentioned few writers whose children’s novels are contributing greatly. They are Md Zafar Iqbal, Ekhlasuddin Ahmed and Kaizer Chowdhury. Few of Sarwar-ul-Islam’s most popular titles are Bhoot er Lal Half Pant, Lal Shurjer Desh and Kalo Pori. In his title Kalo Pori, the black fairy is a character who is neglected by her family because unlike the rest of her family, she has a dark complexion. It poses as a curse in her life as she faces severe discrimination from her close ones. She decides to make the journey from fairyland to earth, leaving her so-called family. It is not her fault that she is ‘dark’, is it? The story then unfolds to a point where she is accepted and loved in a human family. She is appreciated for who she is and not looked down upon. In the end, Kalo Pori’s mother travels to earth to look for her daughter and take her back. But Kalo Pori does not want to go back to that life, the life that permanently scarred her, she never goes back. The story gives moral education to children by taking a stance against discrimination, against racism, against creating stereotypes. And it applies more to children because they are sensitive. They will not be able to take it if treated unequally. They deserve the most equal treatment, because they themselves will never look at others unequally.

http://www.newagebd.com/2007/sep/28/sep28/xtra_also4.html