September 26, 2019 was the 200th birthday of Pundit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, one of the pioneers of Bengal’s renaissance. As the school was open on Thursday, the Durgapur Adda Young Association (DAYA) celebrated the bicentennial of this great man on September 26 at the Vidhan Bhaban in the steel city of Durgapur.
Despite the incredibly inclement weather, the gathering of more than two hundred people on the occasion of Vidyasagar’s bicentennial was truly inspiring. As a part of preparation for the Vidyasagar Bicentennial event, Durgapur Adda Young Association invited article from Bengali medium school students of class VII to XII, on the topic, “Social Thoughts of Vidyasagar”.
In an overwhelming response, more than 300 articles were received from students of 8 schools. Writers of 50 articles were awarded with a certificate of honour and the best 3 were selected for special prizes.
From this year, DAYA launched the “Vidyasagar Smarok Samman” (Vidyasagar Memorial Honor) award. Every year a teacher (may not be a school or college teacher) will be selected from Durgapur and adjoining areas who apart from his teaching job is also working for the betterment of the society by building a sense of scientific rationale in the society. In the first year, “Vidyasagar Smarok Samman – 2019” award was handed over to Kazi Nizamuddin, headmaster of Durgapur’s Bijra High School.
In the discussion titled “Social Thoughts of Vidyasagar”, Ananda Award and Rabindra Award winning author Ashish Lahiri brought to the fore that Vidyasagar was more of a social reformer and less of a merciful human, as is being projected in most books that we read in school. He stressed upon the need of propagating the thoughts of Vidyasagar based upon real evidences and not on folklore.
One can watch the first part of the speech of Ashish Lahiri at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NstrNuWXOg0
The second part of the speech of Ashish Lahiri can be watched by clicking at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShT_Y_kARVc
After the discussion, Mr. Asish Lahiri took on several questions from the audience and presented a new way of exploring Vidyasagar.
It was indeed a very successful programme, where the eager presence of more than 200 students gave the hope of light amidst the darkness prevailing all around.