‘Amar Kotha, Amader Kotha’, a compilation of reports and essays by children journalists, launched

hello.bdnews24.com, the first Bengali website for young journalists, has published a compilation of their reports and essays, ‘Amar Kotha, Amader Kotha’, giving an insight into the mind of the new generation.

Shahidul Islambdnews24.com
Published : 19 April 2015, 01:26 PM
Updated : 19 April 2015, 08:30 PM

Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid unveiled the book on Sunday, in presence of State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak and more than a hundred children and adolescent journalists who gathered from the length and breadth of Bangladesh.

bdnews24.com Editor-in-Chief Toufique Imrose Khalidi attended the event on behalf of the organisers.

Mahmud Hossain, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer of mobile-phone operator Grameenphone, a co-partner of the event, was also present.

The book launch with the theme ‘Amar kothao jabe bohudur, (My voice will also reach far), began around 4pm at Dhaka’s Hotel Radisson Blu Water Garden.

hello.bdnews24.com, the first-ever specialised children's news service website of Bangladesh, was launched on Mar 13, 2013.

The content is developed mostly by children and adolescent journalists, starting from newsgathering to posting on the website.

At the start, Khalidi traced Hello’s journey so far. He also mentioned how the children journalists’ work helped solving some of the problems of society.

“We will continue this effort. I believe this is our responsibility,” he said.

Palak followed with the promise of giving laptops to the young journalists of every district.

He urged them to stay alert in detecting corruption and waste of public money.

“I would like to see news on schools that have been provided with computers and multimedia classrooms to find out whether they are properly using them,” he added.

Nahid prodded them to continue their journey.

The education minister joked, “It’s kind of scary, speaking in front of so many journalists.

“But I am very happy. They are very successful. They have publicised their thoughts, skills and efficiency."

According to the minister, Bangladesh had 55.2 million students. “Though we have been able to bring 99 percent of them to school, retaining them is a big challenge.”

“We have succeeded mostly in achieving our goal. Gender inequality has been eradicated at the secondary level. Girls are advancing,” Nahid added.

Executive Editor of hello.bdnews24.com Mujtaba Hakim Plato said, “The book contains reports and comments contributed by children over the years on the website.”

“It reflects how youth-friendly the country has become and it also portrays the mindset of the youths,” he added.

Altogether 101 articles of as many as 107 young journalists have been put together in the 208-page book published by bdnews24 Publishing Limited (bpl).

More than 5,000 children are currently involved with the pioneering website, said hello.bdnews24.com Editor Aninda Rahman.

The news-based website is administered by bdnews24.com, the first Internet newspaper of Bangladesh.

The young, trained journalists under the supervision of skilled journalists of bdnews24.com are also contributing to mainstream journalism.