Humayun Kabir Jibon, Kushtia
Dr Rashid Askari, a former vice-chancellor and also a Professor of English department of Islamic University in Kushtia, has won the Vidyasagar Award 2023 for his contribution to Education.
The Sanskrit College and University, Kolkata, India and Vidyasagar Society, Dhaka Bangladesh have jointly awarded him the award on Tuesday, IU academic office sources said.
He has been awarded in recognition of his contributions to higher education in Bangladeshi academia and defending of the causes of rationalism, secularism, liberalism, progressivism, gender equality and women empowerment through his writings and public speeches.
The Sanskrit College and University vice-chancellor Professor Raj Kumar Kothari and Vidyasagar Society, Dhaka’s founder secretary general Dr Mohammad Abdul Hye handed the award to Dr Rashid Askari on Tuesday.
Earlier, an international conference on ‘Vidyasagar and the episteme of Bengal’ jointly organised by the Sanskrit College and University, Kolkata and Vidyasagar Society, Dhaka marking the 203rd birth anniversary of Pandit Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar was held at Bharati Bhavan, Kolkata, India on Tuesday.
Among others, Goutam De, former Director, ICCR, Biswadeb Chakraborty, Coordinator, URI, India, Dr. Tania Chakravertty, Dean of Students’ Welfare, Diamond Harbour Women’s University, West Bengal, India, and delegates from Bangladesh Dr. Chinmoy Howlader, Associate Professor of Sanskrit, National University, Prof. Md. Zahir Uddin Arif, Professor of Marketing, Jagannath University, and Iqbal Sarder, office secretary, Vidyasagar Society, Dhaka attended the conference.
Rashid Askari is a distinguished Bangladeshi academic, educationist, freethinking bilingual author, fictionist, columnist, translator and media personality.
He, as a vice-chancellor of Islamic University in Kushtia, introduced considerable measures to secularize and internationalize the academic trajectory of the university as well as adopted down to earth policies to help the university cope with various challenges of the 21st Century.
He has facilitated the development of the understanding of cultural diversity of humankind in order to prepare students to go forth with skills, knowledge and wisdom to serve and advance the communities in which they live and work.
Askari’s writings – short stories, essays, columns and political commentaries contribute to the furtherance of secular, humanistic, progressive, non-communal and feminist thoughts in Bangladesh and beyond.
