UNITED WE STAND: My Personal Feelings about Team Work for the Exhibition of DIU Foundation Day
"Ma'am, we have been attending DIU Foundation Day for the last few years but never had we any stall there." "Forget about stalls, does law department have any identity there?" Two quotes from a bundle of quotes of law students of senior batches in my office after one month of my joining. I listened to everyone first and allowed them to let off their pain & anger. Lastly I said, "My dear boys & girls, something that didn't happen doesn't mean that it will never happen. I'm declaring that not only Law Department will have stalls in Foundation Day, but also we will win the stall competition, InshAllah."
I just said "Sukria to Allahâ..." when I heard the announcement of the results of the 11th Foundation Day Exhibition Competition. The very next day, there was a surprise celebration in my Law Department. I was honored with students' warm reception. In that celebration it was said by the students, "Ma'am has been with us for the last three semesters & from the first day of her arrival in the department we could understand that we will no longer be an inactive department" I had nothing to say other than listening to their feelings. I was touched by the speech of the President & the GS of DMCS, Zafur & Saif and speech by the anchor of the program Mahboob. In other write up I'll mention about their words which brought tears in my eyes.
But I can't help mentioning Shurid's speech. It was really interesting. I'm just quoting what he said in his speech. "I got chance in Dhaka University Fine Arts department but I took admission in Law dept, DIU, since studying Law was my desire. But after starting my 1st semester I started thinking where have I been admitted! No programs, no competitions, no cultural activities in my department! I told my father that I was going to lose my all abilities of taking part in extracurricular activities and that I would not continue to study in Law dept of DIU" he remarked.
"My father requested me just to stay there another semester. I agreed & decided to quit after completing 2nd semester. And in 2nd semester Farhana ma'am joined our department. Fortunately, we got a course of her. We all were waiting with mixed reaction that Head ma'am will take our class. The specific day, ma'am entered in our class with her smiling face & after saying few words she said, dear students, keep your hands on your desk. We were all so surprised when she checked everyone's nails, hair & dress up! We said, O my God, she is going to treat us as nursery students! But later on we became habituated of it. Her class means not only neat & clean environment, but neat & clean students too. And the rest is just a story. She became each & every students' favorite teacher. The way we love her is the same way we are afraid of her because we all know she loves us like anything but she never compromises with rules & regulations." he added further.
At the end of his speech he said, "Now I'll recite a poem & dedicate it to my ma who is our loving Farhana Ma'am.†I wondered how my students remember every single matter! I'm used to checking students' ID, nails, since I have been a lecturer. I'm now an Associate Professor but I still possess my earlier habits which were mentioned by my student, Shurid so sweetly.
Now I am coming to the fact of the stall exhibition of 11th Foundation Day by Law dept. Besides the members of Organizing Committee & Discipline Committee, when I was made the Co Convener of the Exhibition Committee, it was very near to the ceremony day. Keeping in mind about the shortage of time, I called a faculty meeting where we discussed about the subjects, themes & designs of the posters.
We had only 1 week to submit posters. I made my colleagues understand their assigned works. They started their works without spoiling a single moment. They proved the strength of team work. Being guided by me they guided the students in preparing posters wonderfully.
Riad's responsibility was monitoring the works of students; Farzana, Ferdousi, & Manjida's work was involving students in preparing posters. Preparing 12 quality posters on following subjects was a tiresome job which was done by these three teachers with a happy mood. My job was correcting them before final printing & binding. The last work was done by Abdur Rahim; taking all the posters with volunteers to Asuhulia campus for decorating the stall. The posters were on:
1. International Crimes Tribunals
2. Geographical Identification & .. Our Identity
3. Student Politics in Bangladesh from 1952 to 2013
4. Corruption in Bangladesh & Anti Corruption Laws
5. Women Trafficking
6. Consumer Protection Laws
7. Saving Dhaka City ( highlighting Environmental Laws)
8. Child Labor in Bangladesh
9. Drug Addiction
10. Rights of Indigenous People
11. Acid Throwing
12. Child Abuse
When Riad brought all the posters, Abdur Rahim started for permanent campus on Friday. After their departure, I uttered, "Yes, a team work has been done!" We took three stalls for our department & for the Daffodil Moot Court Society.
Abdur Rahim combined three stalls & made one stall as the banner which was provided by the authority was for"Department of Law & Daffodil Moot Court Society". So it was looking a wide stall where poster projections, Departmental works, four photo boards, DMCS's board etc were displayed beautifully & very systematically. For the photo board projection Zafur, Saif, Ashraful & Mahboob did tremendous job.
And we got the result of the team work of the teachers and students on 16th February 2013. I wanted to write this column the next day. But after the program I became ill and started taking antibiotic unfortunately.
Today, feeling better Alhamdulillah, I took this opportunity to congratulate my dear faculty members & loving students. And my department students are eagerly waiting to receive the prize money from the successful Convener of Exhibition Committee, Professor Dr Syed Akhter Hossain.
Farhana Helal Mehtab
Head, Dept of Law