A Seminar was held on 15^th April, 2010 on the issue of the importance of primary education in mother tongue for indigenous children. The seminar styled ‘Indigenous children’s primary education in mother tongue: significance and intention’ was organized by the Ethnic Community Development Organization with a support from Oxfam GB under it’s Anagrasar Gonounnayan Project. The seminar was presided over by Mr. Lakshmikanta Singh executive director of the organization. Eminent author and chief of the computer science and engineering department of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology Professor Mohammed Zafar Iqbal addressed the seminar as chief guest.
Mr. Enamul Habib, Upozella Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Sylhet sadar & Mr. A.K.M Reaz Uddin, District Primary Education Officer (DPEO) were present as special guests. Seminar papers on this topic was present by Professor Dr. Tulshi Kumar Das, Chairman Social Work Department & Dean of social sciences faculty of Sylhet Shahjalal University of Science and Technology.

Mr. E. U Shahidul Islam renowned lawyer & the president of Sylhet Bar Association played role as a Moderator in this seminar. Professor Zafor said every child have the rights to study in their own mother tongue. But considering the real situation we should think up to which class we should provide in mother tongue education for indigenous children. Further he said once all indigenous children have to be mainstreaming for ensuring their own development.

Speakers of the seminar stressed the need for teaching the indigenous children in their mother tongue at the primary level so that they could absorb the lessons easily. Mentioning that the children have a natural capacity to learn any language, the speakers said the indigenous children should learn Bangla as the national language side-by-side with their own language so that they do not have to face any difficulty in their professional life.

In the seminar some indigenous leader participants were very angry for the publication with wrong information in some national curriculum books for primary and secondary level about some indigenous communities. They claimed to the concern authority of the government to make amendment this wrong information after discussion with the concern indigenous communities as early as possible.

Besides the chief & special guests other honorable participants were also delivered their valuable speeches. There were Professor Dr. Yasmeen Haque of SUST, Mr. Farukh Mahmud Chowdhury Administrator Sylhet Chambers of Commerce, Professor Dr. Abul Fateh Fattah of Sylhet Madan Mohan College, Mr, Aziz Ahmed Selim Chief editor of The Daily Uttar Purba  & BTV representative of Sylhet, Mr. A K Sheram Chairperson of Bangladesh Manipuri Sahitya Sangsad, Mr. Khoiram Kamini Kumar Singha indigenous teacher, Mr. Khoiram Indrazit Singha Manipuri poet & litterateur have deliver their valuable speeches. At the end of the seminar Mr. Lakshmikanta Singh thanks to all participants to make the seminar successful.

Seminar related media link:-

http://www.thedailystar.net/campus/2010/04/04/newsroom.htm
http://www.newagebd.com/2010/apr/17/met.html

ECDO observed International Mother Language Day on 21^st February, 2010. ECDO tributes to the Language Movement martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the mother tongue 58 years ago. ECDO organized a rally on the occasion of this day observation & after rally ECDO laid wreaths at the Sylhet Shaheed Minar and stood in silence for a few moments in remembrance of the martyrs. In the program there were present Executive committee members of the organization & staffs. ECDO observed this International Mother Language Day every year.

Mr. Hans Hoffmeyer Senior Advisor/Programme Coordinator of Project Support Unit-Human Rights and Good Governance of Danida & Mr. MB Akter Program Manager of Oxfam GB, a total five members of visitor team visited ECDO office and its project area at Jaintapur Upozela under Sylhet district for monitoring the progress of Anagrasar Gono Unnayan Prokolpo (A backward community development project) which was started at the end of 2007 with support from Oxfam GB & Danida.

During their field visit they met and discussed with local government representatives and community peoples to know about the immediate impact of this project & for future directions. After field visit they also met with the executive members of ECDO. It should be mentioned that ECDO is implementing this project in the indigenous area to create awareness and ensure capacity building for the local indigenous people’s organization such as; Community Based Organization (CBO), Traditional Social Structure (TSS), and to ensure their rights for education, land and other rights on indigenous issues in the aspect of national and international.

ECDO have already some significant achievements under this project within this short period of time, which is appreciated by different stakeholders and civil society members. One of the mentionable achievements is that after getting different training under this project access of indigenous peoples to the different local government offices increasing gradually. Now they have gained some capacity to bargain about their rights with the local government authorities.

ECDO organized a District Level Consultative Meeting on 31^st December 2009 under Anagrasar Gono Unnayan Prokolpa (Backward Community Development Project) with support from Oxfam GB. The consultative meeting was presided by the additional deputy commissioner (Education & Development) of Sylhet Mr. Ahmed Shamim Al-Raji. Mr Lakshmikanta Singh Executive Director of ECDO was present as the moderator of the meeting. At the beginning of this meeting he delivered a well come speech and described about the aims and objectives of the meeting.

The main objectives of this meeting were as follows;

• Sensitizing deputy commissioner and other district level government offices on indigenous issues.
• Introducing present situation of indigenous peoples to different local government offices as well as civil society.
• To get attention of local government authorities for the solution of existing indigenous people’s problems on education, land, health, human rights & for other important issues.

It should be mentioned at the beginning of the meeting the Executive Director of ECDO made a presentation on the present activities of ECDO & the existing situation of indigenous peoples.  In this meeting among the participants there were present different representatives from civil society, government and non government organizations. The deputy commissioner office gave some commitment to work for the solution of existing indigenous peoples problems. They also suggest to indigenous leaders to share with deputy commissioner office any kinds of problems on indigenous issues, so that they can take proper steps for solution. Finally, the deputy commissioner office thanked to ECDO for organizing like this exceptional important meeting on indigenous issues.

ECDO organized a Consultative Meeting with the Union Parishad to review their action plan progress for the past and coming year. ECDO is taking such initiative to make sure that Indigenous Peoples gain by ensuring equity in the disbursement of Union Parishad (UP) resources approved from the central government. The Union Parishad chairman reviewed the last year’s action plan and listed their achievements for the year, what is still being implemented and assured that those objectives not met will be accomplished in the coming year.

The indigenous people expressed their appreciation to the UP chairman for the work that has been done already and said they were very happy with the progress of the last year. For the coming year the UP chairman committed to building a Temple at Goabari village, Jaintapur upozila, under Sylhet district. Finally, ECDO on behalf of the Indigenous Community requested the UP chairman to ensure that the Social Safety Net Program (SSNP) such as Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) and Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) were properly distributed to the community. Mentionable that ECDO arranged like this consultative meeting at 5 Union Parishad in Sylhet Districts Northeastern part of Bangladesh. 

ECDO organized two training sessions on indigenous people’s rights. Indigenous peoples from different areas could get opportunity to receive this training in their respective villages. The trainings were two days long and had a total of 52 participants, 35 men and 17 women.

The aim of the training was to sensitize Indigenous Peoples about their rights recognized by the National Constitution of Bangladesh, the UN Convention on Human Rights and other UN treaties and conventions related to Indigenous Peoples rights. ECDO organized these trainings so that as citizens of an independent country, indigenous peoples can enjoy all the rights recognized by national and international agencies. Furthermore, ECDO’s endeavor is to make the indigenous peoples understand the different duties and responsibilities of local government officers, so as to increase indigenous people’s access to local government institutions.  Resource persons from different organizations working on human rights and social activists were also present as facilitators of the training session. After getting this training, the participants became more conscious about their rights and the possible steps to be under taken once their rights are violated.

ECDO is implementing these activities under AGU Project at three indigenous people’s concentrated Upozellas under Sylhet district, Bangladesh.

ECDO organized two consultative meetings on Indigenous Peoples Issues for Anagrasar Gana Unnayan Project (Backward Community Development Project) supported by OXFAM GB. The venue and date of the Upozella meetings were as follows;

• Jaintapur Upozella Conference Hall, Jaintapur 16th June, 2008 &
• Goainghat Upozella Conference Hall, Goainghat on the 29th Oct, 2008

The meetings were presided over by Mr. Zillur Rahaman Chowdhury, Upozella Nirbahi Officer of Jaintapur Upozella and Mr. A. K. M Tareq, Upozella Nirbahi Officer (UNO) of Goainghat Upazella. Mr. Lakshmikanta Singh Executive Director of ECDO was present as the moderator of both meetings. Sixty six leaders from different indigenous communities attended the meetings.

The aim of the meetings was to encourage indigenous peoples to share their problems with local government officials and to introduce them with local government offices and their duties and responsibilities.

The rationale behind organizing these consultative meetings was to bridge the gap between the indigenous people and the local government. ECDO realized that the local government plays a major role in the lives of the indigenous people and the indigenous people though have the right to address their issues to the Upozella administration, they are not in the habit of doing so. The meetings are therefore a platform where they can raise their issues and the local government gets the chance to understand their problems. Discussions of the meeting help to make suggestions for their solution.

Among the problems highlighted for Jaintapur area were the issue of  land grabbing, lack of proper water and sanitation system, seizure of their traditional graveyard land by a group of  people belonging majority community due to their lack of proper registration, lack of intervention by the local government in their quest for betel production forcing them to use middlemen who buy the product at very low prices from their village, false accusation of criminal activities by some majority people leading to indigenous people to sell their land forcefully at very low prices, loss of indigenous peoples identity, culture and language as they don’t have any institution to nurture and promote their culture, high levels of unemployment among others.

For Goainghat the leaders raised the issues of regular thefts of Betel leaf and betel nut from their farms, the encroachment of their land by river during floods, thefts of stones used for construction work inside from their land by a group of majority community, illiteracy and low enrolment levels in schools, unemployment, overcharge at the ferry, bacterial infection of beetle leaf and nut etc.

An open forum was then held to discuss the issues raised. The moderator presented the synopsis of the discussion regarding the problems of indigenous peoples of the project area. The forum had full participation from all sections of the population from every part of the upozella. It also includes women. Mr. Lakshmikanta Singh then open the floor to the UNO’s to express their views and possible intervention on the issues raised. They tackled each issue explaining how they will delegate to the respective offices such as Upozilla Education Officer, Assistant Commissioner of Land and UP Project Implementation Officer. The UNO’s suggested the indigenous peoples to be quick to inform their Union Parishad (lowest layer of local self government) Chairmen when they have problems as it is their duty to work for the development of their constituents. They both acknowledged ECDO’s efforts in advocating indigenous community rights and thanked the organization for organizing an exceptional meeting.

It should be mentioned that two Upozella project orientation meetings were organized from the very beginning of the project where it explained the activities of the AGU Project and the set budget to all its stakeholders such as the project participants and the local government. Creating credibility and understanding on the project as well as proving accountability and transparency were the main targets of that orientation meeting.

Ethnic Community Development Organization (ECDO) organized the ‘Anagrasar Ganaunnayan Project’ (AGUP) orientation program at Goainghat upozila on the 16th of May 2008. The Chief Guest was Upozilla Nirbahi Officer (UNO) of Goainghat, Mr. Zamil Ahmed. The orientation was presided by Mr. Lakshmikanta Singh, Executive Director of ECDO with the chairperson of Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB) Goainghat Upozilla Mr. Shafiqur Rahman as the special guest.

The meeting began with an introductory speech by Miss. Nongpoklai Sinha ECDO’s Project Coordinator (DIGNITY). Mr. Rabi Kiron Singha, Project Coordinator (AGUP) then presented his paper on the details activities of AGU Project.

The Chief Guest Mr. Zamil Ahmed delivered his speech on the importance of education for the indigenous people, as well as the need to ensure that their land rights are upheld for their development. Stressing on the importance of land rights for the indigenous peoples, he noted that there was no printed or published inheritance law for the indigenous people but there are many land related cases for the indigenous people which have been intentionally kept aside because it is a very sensitive issue and they don’t have a source of reference. He therefore, requested ECDO to take the initiative to publish inheritance laws for all the indigenous communities of this region.

An open discussion followed with the issue of land grabbing from mainstream community taking precedence. The headman of Lama Punjee Mr. Richon Kongwang said that this occurred because the indigenous people lacked land documentation. Mr. Zamil Ahmed said that various trainings, workshops and meetings should be organized with the Upozila Assistant Commissioner (Land) so as to ensure his assistance. Other participants brought up the issue of health. The children, women and elder men are suffering a lot of due to lack of health service facilities in their punjee (villages) and have to travel over 70 kms to receive better health facility from the District Hospital. This is because of the lack of proper communication infrastructure from the punjee to district headquarters.

Mr. Lakshmikanta then made his speech adding that ECDO is committed to work for the development of indigenous communities and that ECDO will work towards ensuring the solution of the issues raised in the meeting. Mr. Lakshmikanta then closed the meeting with a special thank you to chief guest Mr. Zamil Ahmed for taking time from his busy schedule to attend the Project Orientation Meeting and giving lots of suggestions and recommendations. He also thanked the participants from the civil society, journalists and the indigenous people for attending and making the meeting a success.