Quotation - Success

"I don't measure a man's success by how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits bottom."

George S. Patton

Travel 7 - Bangladesh (Human Life)

Inactivity on this Blog, due to the ‘blogspot’ application being unavailable in Bangladesh, was a little frustrating because I was remiss in keeping a journal of my experiences.

Arriving back in Canada, I felt it necessary to quickly post a warning about the corrupt and unscrupulous management of the school that hired me (See Education 4).  That being done and, hopefully, forgotten, I may continue with another topic ... resisting the urge to use the title ‘A Day in the Life’.

In a previous Post (See Travel 5) I wrote,“... another aspect of Bangladeshi life that will never be forgotten, is the low value of human life.  Every time I picked up a daily newspaper, I was astonished by the number of murders that were taking place every day (every day).  There are two categories;  firstly the group attacks on males resulting from some petty street argument and, secondly, the 'honor' killings of females, more often than not, housemaids.  Then, only if reported, do the police become involved, but only to document the incident (Rarely is there a report of a conviction).  It is difficult not to mention religion in this context.”  I should, now, try to present a more detailed picture of that terrible situation which is rarely described in the Western media.

Dhaka (Bashundhara)

To do this, I randomly grabbed a local newspaper, the Daily Star (May 23rd, 2013), and spent some time analyzing the contents for evidence of the low value of human life.  Here is the result:

• “Man dies in cop custody - Family alleges torture as it gave half the money demanded in bribe for his release.”
• “BNP to call another hartal* next week - The BNP last night decided to enforce a nationwide daylong hartal next week protesting the ‘ban’ on rallies in the capital for a month.”
• “Rapist gets life term in Ctg - A Chittagong court yesterday sentenced a man to life and fined him Tk 1 lakh for raping a five-year-old girl.”
• “Road crash kill four - A man was killed and three others were injured as a truck rammed a Nasimon at Maligasa intersection in Pabna yesterday.” (Yes, I did notice the title error, Ed.)“MC College student stabbed to death - A student of MC College was stabbed to death by miscreants in the city’s Pathantola area yesterday.”
• “Injured CU student dies - A Chittagong University student, who was injured after falling off the railing in the corridor of his hall on Tuesday night, died in Chittagong Medical College Hospital early yesterday.”
• “Vandalism marks BNP’s hartal - At least 15 CNG auto-rickshaws were vandalized and another torched by pickets in Keraniganj upazila during yesterday’s daylong hartal in Dhaka district called by BNP.”
• “Sylhet court frames charges against six - A Sylhet court framed charges against six people in a case filed against them on a charge of killing journalist Foteh Osmani in Sylhet city on April 18.”
• “Accused in Rekkat murder case held - Detective Branch (DB) of police has arrested a youth in connection with local Swechsebok League leader Rekkat murder case.”
• “Two ‘smugglers’ killed in ‘shootout’ with BGB - Two alleged smugglers were killed in a ‘shootout’ between members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and a gang of smugglers ....”
• “18-party men sued - Around 200 leaders and activists of 18-party Alliance were sued yesterday on charge of vandalizing vehicles and blasting cocktails on Tuesday.”
• “Youth ‘commits suicide’ - A youth allegedly took his own life by taking poison over a family feud in Pakpara village in Kalidashpur ....”
• “Man kills daughter - A two-year-old girl was killed allegedly by her father at Bhatpara village ....”
• “Youth electrocuted - A dish line worker was electrocuted in Kawkhali upazila on Tuesday night.”
• “Housewife killed for dowry - A housewife has been killed allegedly by her husband for dowry at Asadpur village under KHaliajuri upazila.”
• “30 extrajudicial killings so far this year - Bangladesh security forces perpetrated at least 30 extrajudicial killings and 10 forced disappearances and carried out wide-spread torture in 2012, according to the human rights organization Amnesty International.”
• “2 killed in ‘shootout’ - They were suspected of murder, abduction, says RAB.”




• “Rajshahi Jubo League leader shot dead - A Rajshahi leader was gunned down in a factional clash at Chandipur in Rajshahi city yesterday afternoon.”

Please note that this is an average daily record, and I have other newspapers that describe similar statistics.  It is surprisingly noticeable that deaths and injuries on the railways are not mentioned in this instance.   Incidentally, this newspaper, ironically, had a photo of Mahatma Gandhi on the front page.

Dhaka (Bashundhara)

*The ‘hartal’ is the word to describe a politically organized strike.  Unlike Western strikes that are organized by individual trade unions causing, for example, the cancellation of public transport or government offices, the hartal is organized by a political party (usually the opposition) where they forcefully demand a total shutdown of all businesses, usually involving a youth wing that breaks windows of shops that remain open and set fire to buses that ignore the call ... even rickshaws are not spared.  I believe it to be a form of anarchy, where I argue that the country is not ‘developing’, it is in a sad state of stagnation politically.

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Education 5 - WARNING - Bangladesh

This is a piece of advice for diligent, volunteer teachers, and a warning to unscrupulous, corrupt owners of schools in underdeveloped countries, that corruption can not be silenced.

Last year (2012) I was invited to teach English as a Second Language (ESL) actually, English as a Foreign Language (EFL), but the school was unaware of the difference, at the privately-owned, International Medical College and Hospital (IMC) in Dhaka, Bangladesh, managed by International Medicare Limited (IML).

The writing was on the wall (So to speak) even before leaving Canada, as the incompetent General Secretary, Mr. Nurul Amin, decided that he could argue with the Bangladesh High Commission in Ottawa, Canada, regarding the requirement for IMC to provide a work permit to satisfy my application for a visa.

After months of embarrassed wrangling, which included the inefficient henchman, Mr. Amin (Unaware that the Earth was round), waking the High Commission’s 1st Councillor in the middle of the night, causing the visa to be issued ... under duress.  In other words, IMC executives were able to ask (Or bribe) for a favor from the Prime Minister’s office, as a matter of cronyism.

Arriving in Dhaka, I was introduced to a makeshift classroom in the reception area of the small IML office.  Once again, my heart stopped a beat.  As this was another example of misrepresentation.

Eventually, unsuspecting students were enrolled and classes began.  Teaching was shared between myself and another visiting professor and, together, we also spent some time teaching at the dilapidated college hospital located in a very poor rural area more than one hour’s drive north of the city ... this, requiring a 5:30 a.m. start.  Incidentally, the photos on the company's Website have been touched-up in order to avoid showing the incomplete, decades-old, building construction or the excrement-filled 'pond'.

It was not very long before we met the self-styled Managing Director, Mr. M.A. Rab (Major General, Retired), who, without an ounce of experience, decided that he would redesign the curriculum (And much more).  Although we fought against this, it was useless.  The whole company executive of retired army officers were as corrupt and an extreme example of cronyism that was ever known.  It seems a cultural phenomena in Bangladesh.

Eventually, our diligent students lost patience and the unintelligent Mr. Rab cancelled the classes, leaving my colleague and I penniless, with expired visas, in a country well known for its very dangerous political hartals (strikes) which should be described here in a later post.

We felt very bad for the students who had paid large tuition fees which were not refunded.  Additionally, we could not understand the logic of stopping the much-needed education of poor students by foreign volunteer teachers.  After all, we had paid for our own return air fares, accommodation, and food, etc., out of a monthly stipend of $200.

Therefore, please remember the name;  the 'University of Hard Knocks' and, by the way, there are many honest colleges in Bangladesh (See British Council).

Quotation - "Destiny is no matter of chance ...."

William Jennings Bryan

U.S. Secretary of State (1913 - 1915)

“Destiny is no matter of chance.

It is a matter of choice.

It is not a thing to be waited for, 

it is a thing to be achieved.” 

Education 4 - Overseas Teaching Qualifications

The other day, I received an invitation to register for an IELTS course (No doubt my address was found from a simple Internet search, regardless of my wish to become a student or not).  Having recently returned from Bangladesh, and just about to go back, I decided to investigate this course.

This is how it was described to me:

IELTS Writing Preparation Course

Certificate Course

No. of Classes/ Sessions: 13

Total Hours: 16

Days: SUN-MON-TUE of every week

Time: 5:00PM - 6:15PM

Registration Fees: Tk. 5000.00/Participant (US$61.00)
Get 5% discount by paying online

This unique course aims at developing English writing skills for the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). The writing section forms an important part of the exam as it judges the candidate's ability to communicate in the written form. It evaluates how well the candidate is able to structure and frame his/her thoughts and how clearly he/she is able to express his/herself. This is especially important for individuals appearing for the Academic module as their ability to write well matters a lot in their professional lives.

Candidates appearing for the Academic module are the ones who are applying for admission for higher education or for professionals who are looking to get further training in English speaking countries.

By the end of this course the participants will learn Planning of Writing, Organization of Thoughts, Quality of Arguments, Sentence Structure, and Time Management.

Now this seems well and good, but my cynicism makes me wonder which IELTS book it is copied from.  Because, out of curiosity, I asked for details of the teacher, and received the following reply (Certain details deleted to protect the innocent):

Trainer Details: MBA ...., BBA ....  He is working as an outworker in both Academic Institutions and in Local Organizations.  Former Lecturer of  ....  Worked as a HR associate at the HR Department of ....  He attained Trainee worked at “Housekeeping, Purchase, and Laundry Departments” at ... Hotel, from March 01, 2010 to May 31, 2010.  As an Intern he worked at “Customer Care and Sales Department” at ... from 12th September 2006 to 4th December 2006.  He also Participated in 2 (two) weeklong “Live in Field Experience” (LFE) Program, January 2006, conducted on 25 families at Village: ... under total supervision of Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development ....

I wrote back saying that I could not send my students to this course as the Bangladeshi teacher not only had no teaching qualifications, but there is no evidence that he has an English language qualification either.  The frequently used phrase, "No experience necessary", seems to be taken too literally in this case.

This course, although well-meaning, is an example of the urgent need for foreign teachers to work in Bangladesh, but it is a very poor country, and other countries, for example, Thailand, China, or Korea, can offer much better financial incentives.  Nevertheless, the rewards for teaching in underdeveloped countries from the diligent students and grateful faculty make up for the small financial gain.