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Equal education leads to a better society

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Opinion

Mehreen Chowdhury

EDUCATION is known to be strongest when voices and diverse perspectives are heard and shared around the community. It is vital that young people are given the space and safety to express them without feeling ashamed. The idea of special education is governed by the concept that education is for all. It is true that not everyone learns the same way; hence, teachers in institutions should examine how a child learns and what struggles they face regularly.

A system called ‘Special Educational Needs’ was developed to help individuals who needed it learn more effectively. Special needs that are not met are a problem in Bangladesh and other countries. More support is needed to guarantee that kids with SEN have the same learning opportunities as students without SEN. Due to hidden or neurodivergent difficulties, children in special education may need instructional adaptations.

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Half of world’s largest lakes, reservoirs losing water, Study finds

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News Desk : dhakamirror.com

Photo: collected

More than half of the world’s largest lakes and reservoirs have lost significant amounts of water over the last three decades, according to a new study, which pins the blame largely on climate change, intensifying concerns about water for agriculture, hydropower and human consumption.

According to a team of international researchers, some of the world’s most significant freshwater sources -from the Caspian Sea between Europe and Asia to South America’s Lake Titicaca have been losing water at a cumulative rate of roughly 22 gigatonnes per year for almost three decades.

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Six more lions speared to death by Kenyan herders

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News Desk : dhakamirror.com

Credit: Gibson G. Wairagu/Pexels

Six lions have been killed by herders in a national park in southern Kenya, in a blow to conservation efforts and the tourism industry which is a key pillar of the nation’s economy.

The killings, which took place close to the Amboseli National Park, came just days after a wild lion, believed to be one of the world’s oldest, was killed in the same national park by herders.

Male Loonkiito, 19, was speared after preying on livestock in the village of Olkelunyiet in Kenya, which borders Amboseli National Park.

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Wild lion Loonkiito, ‘one of the world’s oldest’, killed by humans in Kenya

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News Desk : dhakamirror.com

Lion Guardians/Facebook

A wild male lion believed to be one of the world’s oldest has died after being speared by herders, authorities in Kenya have said.

The 19-year-old lion had lived in Amboseli National Park, Kenya, but died when he went alone to a nearby village in search of food and attacked livestock.

According to The National, the old lion was speared to death by herders in the village of Olkelunyiet after Loonkito attacked their livestock.

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Alarming increase in child marriage

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Opinion

Zillur Rahaman

LSE International Development

CHILD marriage is one of the social ills in Bangladesh. It was once an epidemic in Bangladesh. It, however, came under control because of various measures and the supervision of the government in the past decade or so, but has been increasing at an alarming rate since the Covid pandemic, which increased the poverty rate sharply. For girls in remote areas, this term is a dark chapter of horror. When many say it is a social curse, poor parents call it a social reality.

Bangladesh still has the highest rate of child marriage among Asian countries. A report by the United Nations Population Fund, released globally on April 19, says that almost 51 per cent of girls get married before the age of 18 in the country, which is a very alarming figure.

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Tiger populations are expected to increase

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News Desk : dhakamirror.com

The number of tigers in the Sundarbans is expected to increase due to successful conservation efforts in the world’s largest mangrove forest, officials said.

Forest Department officials involved in the ongoing tiger census said they found evidence of tigers using camera traps in areas where a previous investigation found none.

According to the preliminary data obtained from the cameras installed inside the forest, the number of tigers in the Khulna and Satkhira ranges has increased, they said.

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Time to prioritise social justice

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Views

We have the chance to reshape the world we live in – economically, socially, and environmentally.

Gilbert F Houngbo

May 1 is widely known as International Labour Day, a day when we celebrate the contribution of workers worldwide. It is a moment for pride, celebration, and hope.

After three years of the Covid-19 crisis, followed by inflation, conflict, and food and fuel supply shocks, we badly need this. But the promises of renewal made during the pandemic, of “building back better,” have so far not been delivered for the great majority of workers worldwide.

Globally, real wages have fallen, poverty is rising, and inequality seems more entrenched than ever.

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Gazipur Safari Park welcomes a newborn zebra

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News Desk : dhakamirror.com

Photo: collected

A zebra foal was born at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Safari Park in Gazipur in the middle of the month.

With the latest one, the number of the Zebra stands at 26, our Gazipur correspondent reports quoting the park’s in-charge Assistant Conservator of Forest Rafiqul Islam.

However, the sex of the baby zebra could not be ascertained yet, according to the authorities.

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More heatwaves are coming our way. Are we prepared?

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Views

While Bangladesh has a lot of experience in tackling cyclones and floods, we have not taken heat stress into consideration until now.

Saleemul Huq

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently completed its sixth assessment report (AR6), with the Synthesis Report coming out in March. The Synthesis Report carries some key messages about the impacts of climate change and the actions needed to avert the worst of them.

The first new message in the AR6 report came from Working Group I, according to which the scientific community is now able to credibly attribute the impacts of human-induced climate change to the greenhouse (GHG) emissions happening since the industrial revolution began. That message was followed by Working Group II reporting that there are numerous examples of unprecedented weather events that are now causing losses and damages, thanks to human-induced climate change, and that these impacts will only get worse.

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Women must be at the forefront of the transition to a low-carbon economy

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Opinion

Veronica Mendizabal Joffre and Pinky Serafica

Can we truly reimagine a path to a low-carbon transition and change the climate narrative? This is hard to envision when we witness the unprecedented damage we are inflicting on the planet.

For women, the effects of climate change are already a lived experience. Where environments are damaged and traditional sources of livelihood disappear, women must scrounge farther and travel wider to meet the needs of communities. As new diseases emerge from the imbalance in the natural world, women must grapple with the care and health of their families.

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Egypt finds 2,000 mummified ram heads in an ancient temple

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Mummified ram heads found in Ramses II Temple in ancient city of Abydos

News Desk : dhakamirror.com

An American archaeological mission has unearthed over 2,000 mummified ram heads, at the temple of Ramses II in the ancient city of Abydos in southern Egypt. In addition to this remarkable find, the team also uncovered a much older palatial structure, dating back approximately 4,000 years.

The temple is one of several across the country that are dedicated to Rameses II, whose reign from 1279BC to 1213BC is regarded by many as the height of Egypt’s power and glory.

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Why collaboration is in our collective interest

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Views
RMG NOTES
Climate Action
Without fashion retailers and their suppliers working together, our industry as a whole will continue to see emissions rising.

Mostafiz Uddin

According to the latest report of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world is likely to fail to reach its most ambitious climate target – limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above the preindustrial temperatures. The report warns that now is our last chance to avert a climate disaster. Many believe that unless governments around the world opt for the most aggressive climate change policies, the world is just 10 years away from either catastrophic climate change impacts or some form of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission “tipping point,” at which such change will become inevitable.

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Will our universities survive in 25 years?

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Views

Syed Saad Andaleeb

Illustration: Prithi Khalique

Quality education is the backbone of a wholesome and prosperous society. But finding the “quality” in quality education continues to be elusive in Bangladesh. The “so called” universities (more like community colleges) are rife with social, economic, political and ideological problems that work against building learning organisations. Teachers, the kingpins, don the mantle of educators but have little to show in their academic profiles. For today’s new generation of hungry learners, seeking to be actively engaged with illustrious minds, their classroom experience is simply frustrating, backdated, irrelevant, and unpalatable.

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Giant sunfish spotted last year believed to be world’s largest bony fish

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Fishermen and boaters saw the huge creature floating near the Azores islands last December

News Desk: dhakamirror.com

Photo courtesy: Atlantic Naturalistic Association

In last December, Portuguese scientists learned that fishermen and boaters noticed a dead sunfish in the central North Atlantic. When researchers saw the carcass near Faial Island in the Azores, they nearly couldn’t believe it.

Scientists say the bump-head sunfish (Mola alexandrini) is the biggest bony fish ever found. The fish weighed 6,050 pounds, 882 pounds more than the previous record-holder, a 5,070 pound sunfish off the coast of Japan in 1996.

A new publication in the Journal of Fish Biology provides more facts about the enormous sunfish found in the Azores last year.

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Can teachers be the pivot of change in education?

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Views

Manzoor Ahmed

“No system of education can be better than its teachers” is an aphorism that remains meaningful. The nostalgic and idealised image of the teacher as a scholar, dispensing knowledge and wisdom to the young selflessly, who lives a simple life with little concern for material rewards and who is looked upon by the young as a friend, philosopher and guide, is surely overdrawn. But a teacher is still the custodian of the young – manush gorar karigor. To ignore the special role of a teacher in society is to place the future of the nation at peril.

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Excavated 1.4M-year-old bones in northern Spain have the potential to alter human prehistory

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News Desk : dhakamirror.com

Photo: caves in Atapuerca. Courtesy: Google maps – Paco Puche

The oldest human fossils ever discovered on the European continent are 1.4-million-year-old facial bones, which could change the course of human prehistory, according to the researchers involved in the historic discovery.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Aurora Martin, the archaeologist and general coordinator of the Museum of Human Evolution in Burgos, said: “We do not yet know to which first human species the fragments found belonged”.

The bones, found at the end of June at the caves of the Sierra de Atapuerca excavation site near Burgos, constitute “a breakthrough that will help rewrite the history of human evolution,” she added.

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Waterways disappear as rivers die

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World River Day today

Rashad Ahamad

Inland waterways, once the prime mode of transportation in Bangladesh, have declined fast as many rivers, canals, and other water bodies have disappeared in riverine Bangladesh over the past decades.

Due to geographical location, inland waterways were the main mode of transportation in Bangladesh, a country part of the largest delta in the world, but that mode has changed due to erroneous policies in communication development, experts said.

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Climate loss and damage are clearly visible in southwest Bangladesh

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Views

Ashish Barua, Sawkat Chowdhury

The Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) by Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) shows that the sea level, over the last 120 years, has increased by 0.20 metres, and continues rising fast, caused by thermal expansion, glacier ice loss, ice sheet loss, etc. The sea level rise in Bangladesh estimated using gauge data shows varying in different parts of the coastal zone, while the coastal areas along the Sundarbans are highly vulnerable.

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Amazing Planet: Elephants can hear with their feet and understand different languages

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Beatrice Christofaro

Elephants can pick up low frequency vibrations with their feet

Elephants are skilled communicators with memories that could give humans a run for their money. But culling and habitat loss is making it harder for them to pass on this expertise.

They’re known as gentle giants. Elephants, found across Africa and Asia, are the largest mammals on land. And their massive bodies — from their sensitive feet to their complicated brains — are perfectly attuned to these regions’ savannas and forests.

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Chattogram city produces 249 tonnes of plastic waste every day

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Will generate 428 tonnes by 2052

News Desk : dhakamirror.com

Chattogram city produces 249 tonnes of plastic waste every single day — 56 percent of which remains uncollected and littered in the environment, according to a new study.

“Of the plastic waste, the most are sachets, single-use utensils, and personal care items, ” the study added.

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