2nd CI forum on ‘Youth Empowerment’ concludes
Discussants on a question-answer session.
A view of the audience consisting faculty members and students.
The second Curriculum Integration (CI) forum for Fall 2018 was held at Campus A Auditorium on November 15, 2018. Media studies and Journalism (MSJ) department of University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) organised the event. The department conducts curriculum integration every semester to showcase creative works of the students and enable student interaction as well as strengthen links. The theme for Fall 2018 is “Youth Empowerment”. “Youth Empowerment” is a process where children and young people are encouraged to take charge of their lives. They do this by addressing their situation and then take action in order to improve their access to resources and transform their consciousness through their beliefs, values, and attitudes. Youth empowerment aims to improve quality of life. Keeping relation with the unified theme, the CI forum features talks of three MSJ faculty members and a debate. Unlike the first forum, the second forum began with a joint presentation by Kashfia Arif and Hiya Islam, two lecturers of MSJ. Kashfia Arif mentioned how health is just not physical but also concerns with mental health. She also said how important it is to have a positive sense of self. Adding to that, Hiya Islam, spoke about how youths of Bangladesh live unhealthy lives. She observed that a good number of youths are being neglected. She said, “When we talk about the youth, we don’t think about domestic workers.” Both the discussants concluded their presentation asking: “Is it possible to be healthy in an unhealthy society?” Next, Nandita Tabassum, senior lecturer, discussed “Youth-adult partnership”. As part of her discussion, she showed a couple of video clips, justifying how the adults can help the youth build capacity and leadership, and contribute to community development. The last segment of the program consisted of a debate on the motion “Bangladeshi government is pro-youth”. Akib Khan and Ibrahim Mojid were on the affirmative side and their coach was Abu Tayub Mohammed Farhad, a lecturer of MSJ. Dolon Champa Dutta and Mahmuda Binte Imam were on the negative side and their coach was Bikash Chandra Bhowmick, an assistant professor of MSJ. Muhammad Abdul Kader, assistant professor, played the role of the moderator.
A view of the intense debating session.
The CI forum ended with an interesting question-answer session. Students asked questions regarding the topics covered by the faculty members that day. PR4U, an apprenticeship program of MSJ, was in charge of event management. Its member Nazabat Hossain hosted the event.