In the next class Ms Choudhury tells her students the story of Lipi. The year before last, Lipi, a 14-year old girl, was in class nine in a rural school in Rangpur. Lipi is the eldest of five children three daughters and two sons. Their father is a day labourer working on other people's land and mother is a homemaker and a part-time worker at other people's homes. The parents. particularly the mother, found it real difficult to raise five children on the small income the Father could earn. Perhaps that is why Lipi's father wanted to marry her off, But Lipi was not ready to accept what her parents wanted to impose on her. She wanted to pursue her education. Her mother stood by her, though secretly. When her father arranged her marriage with Tara Mia, the only son of a farmer in the same village, she became greatly upset. Tara Mia was a widower-illiterate, but well off. His father had a few acres of arable land and was influential in the village. The marriage seemed to be Inevitable.

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  Mother Teresa was moved by the sight of the sick and dying on the streets of Kolkata. She founded a home for the dying destitute and named it 'Nirmal Hridoy meaning Pure Heart. She and her fellow nuns gathered the dying people off the streets of Kolkata to this home. They were lovingly looked after and cared for. Since then many men, women and children have been taken from the streets and carried to Nirmal Hridoy. These unloved and uncared for people get an opportunity to die in an environment of kindness and love. In their last hours, they get human and divine love and can feel they are also children of God. The Missionaries of Charity try to find jobs for those who survive, or send them to homes where they can live happily for some more years in a caring environment. Regarding commitment to family, Mother Teresa said. "May be in our own family, we have somebody. who is feeling lonely, who is feeling sick, who is feeling worried. Are we there? Are we willing to give until it hurts in order to be with our families, or do we put our interest first? We must remember that love begins at home and we must also remember that future of humanity passes through the family. Mother Teresa's work has been recognized throughout the world and she received a number of awards, These include the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize (1971), the Nehru Prize for Promotion of International Peace & Understanding (1972), the Balzan Prize (1978), the Nobel Peace Prize (1979) and the Bharat Ratna (1980).

Mother Teresa died at the age of 87 on 5 September 1997. The world salutes her for her love and compassion for humanity. She has taught us how to extend our hand towards those who need our love and support irrespective of creed, caste and religion. The picture of Mother Teresa, draped in a white and blue-bordered sari, with a wrinkled face, ever soft eyes and a saintly smile, lives on in our mind.

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May Day or International Workers' Day is observed on May 1 all over the world today to commemorate the historical struggle and sacrifices of the working people to establish an eight-hour workday. It is a public holiday in almost all the countries of the world.

Since the Industrial Revolution in the 18^th and 19^th centuries in Europe and the US, the workers in mills and factories had been working a long shift, fourteen or even more hours a day.

On May 1^st in 1886, inspired by the trade unions⁽²⁾, half of the workers at the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company in Chicago went on strike demanding an eight-hour workday. Two days later, a workers' rally was held near the McCormick Hervester Machine Company and about 6000 workers joined it. The rally was addressed by the labour leaders. They urged the workers to stand together, to go on with their struggle and not to give in to their bosses. At one point of the rally, some strikebreakers started leaving the meeting place. The strikers went down the street to bring them back. Suddenly about 200 policemen attacked them with clubs and revolvers. One striker was killed instantly, five or six others were seriously wounded and many others were injured.

The events of May 1, 1886 are a reminder that workers will continue to be exploited until they stand up and speak out to gain better working conditions, better pay and better lives.

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21 February is a memorable day in our national history. We observe the day every year as International Mother Language Day. The day is a national holiday.

On this day, we pay tribute to the martyrs who laid down their lives to establish Bangla as a state language in undivided Pakistan in 1952. The struggle to achieve our language rights is known as the Language Movement. The seed of the Language Movement was sown on 21 March, 1948 when Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the Governor General of Pakistan, declared in a public meeting in Dhaka that Urdu would be the only state language of Pakistan. The declaration raised a storm of protest in the eastern part of the country. The protest continued non-stop, gathering momentum day by day. It turned into a movement and reached its climax in 1952. The government outlawed all sorts of public meetings and rallies to stop it.

The students of Dhaka University defied the law and brought out a peaceful protest procession on 21 February, 1952. When the procession reached near Dhaka Medical College, the police opened fire on the students, killing Salam, Rafiq, Barkat, Safiur and Jabbar. As a result, there were mass protests all over the country and the government had to declare Bangla as a state language. This kindled the sparks of independence movement of Bangladesh.

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