http://independent-bangladesh.com/news/sep/16/16092003mt.htm#A9
The Independent, 16 September 2003
Staff Reporter
The Greater Chittagong Hill Tracts Hill Students’ Council (GCHTHSC) yesterday at a press briefing reiterated its five-point demands for ensuring quality education for indigenous students. The briefing was organised at Madhur Canteen of Dhaka University (DU) to mark the National Education Day tomorrow.
"On September 11 in 2001 our organisation placed its five-point demands to the Deputy Minister of CHT Affairs Mani Swapan Dewan and later forwarded the same demands to the Minister of Education on September 16 of the same year. On February 19 of this year we placed our demands to the Prime Minister (PM) and a letter issued from PM’s office on February 27 directed the concerned to take necessary steps in this regard but no steps have yet been taken," said President of GCHTHSC Mithun Chakma.
The five-point demands of GHTHSC are ensuring the right to get primary education in mother tongue for children of all the tribal groups of CHT, erasing the aspersions on the ethnic minority groups from text books, inclusion of brief informative write-ups on various ethnic groups of Bangladesh in text-books and introduction of special quotas for the hill people cancelling the earlier one.
The press briefing, among others, was addressed by Vice President Superjyoti
Chakma, Organisational Secretary Dipankar Tripura, central member Aung Gya Marma,
President of Dhaka unit Rupan Chakma of the hill student’s body and Ilira Dewan,
General Secretary of Hill Women’s Federation.