Will be journalists anyway, passionate children journalists of ‘Hello’ say

They are children, but they do not spare even ministers when they effortlessly slip into the role of journalists.

And they have no plans to switch career once done with their studies. They just want to be journalists with more skills.
 
Around 150 of such young journalists gathered at Dhaka’s Hotel Radisson Blu Water Garden on Sunday.
 
The gathering was to mark the launch of the book ‘Amar Kotha, Amader Kotha (My voice, our voices),’ a collection of 101 reports and essays written by children and adolescent journalists.
 

They joined hello.bdnews24.com only after clearing aptitude tests. Many joined by submitting registration forms published on the bdnews24.com and the Hello websites.

The children journalists started arriving at the function around 3pm.

An HSC first-year student of Sylhet’s Blue Bird High School and College, Ruhin Ahmed, said he wrote a piece titled, ‘I am proud to be a journalist’ on the Hello site and was glad to see it finding its way in the book.

“I wrote two others. They are on the woes of poor students,” he said.

“In the essay - ‘I am proud to be a journalist’ – I said I want to be a journalist when I grow up,” he added.  

Thakurgaon’s Aminur Rahman Hridoy, who took the SSC test this year from Pirganj Pilot High School, said he had been writing in local newspapers as a young journalist.

“I searched children journalism on Google once and found the Hello website. Hello selection test was not held in my district. But my writing was published when I got registered,” he said.

Hridoy said his parents always asked him to be focused on his studies avoiding every other thing. But, now, they are also eager about Hello’s activities.

His father Abul Kashem said he was proud of his son’s writings.

Hridoy wrote about an unrecognised freedom fighter, a drug addict student and awareness in using technology.

Asked how it felt to be speaking to top government officials to make a report, he said, “They pay special attention while listening to me.

“Not only this, our UNO sir asks for my opinion on many occasions to solve problems. So I do some homework before talking to them.”

HSC first-year student of Dhaka’s Uttara High School and College Sajibul Hasan also said people took him seriously when he would introduce himself.

Hasan has two reports picked for the book. They are on unhealthy environment of bakeries and mosquito.

He said he had plans to continue journalism along with studies.

Jubayer Al Mahmud, who sat the SSC exams this year from Rajshahi’s Agrani School and College, said he liked chemistry.

“I will also try to enrol at engineering and medical colleges. But I wish to continue journalism no matter what career I pick,” he said.

Another SSC student from Cambrian School and College in Dhaka, Nanjiba Fatema, said she wanted to get a PhD degree on Television and Media Studies.

 “I like journalism, so I want to continue it,” she said.

Similar was the dream of Shakib Al Azad and Rafsan Talim, grade IV students of Dhaka Residential Model School and College, Viqarunnisa Noon School and College’s 10th grader Tanjum Rahman and Sabikunnahar, grade VII student of Rupnagar Pilot School and College. Bangladesh’s first-ever specialised children’s news service website hello.bdnews24.com was launched on Mar 13, 2013.

Mostly children and adolescent journalists are involved in content development, starting from newsgathering to presentation on the website.

The news-based website is administered by bdnews24.com.

For details please read the Bangla story