Begum Rokeya Day is being celebrated today to commemorate the contribution of Begum Rokeya, a pioneer of Bengali women’s education and a social reformer for ensuring equal rights for women and men.
In observance of the day, ministry of women and children affairs has taken programmes, including awarding ‘Begum Rokeys Padak’ to five women for their outstanding contribution to empowering women in the country.
Rahima Khatun of Faridpur won the award this year for her special contribution to women’s education, professor Kamrun Nahar Begum, also a lawyer, of Chittagong won the medal for her special contribution to the establishment of women’s rights and Farida Yasmin of Satkhira was awarded for her special contribution to the field of women’s socio-economic development.
Afroza Parveen of Narail and Nachima Begum of Jhenaidah received the ‘Begum Rokeya Padak’ this year for their special contribution to the field of women’s awakening through literature and culture and the field of rural development respectively.
Begum Rokeya was born in village Pairaband of Rangpur on December 9, 1880 and died on the same day in 1932 in Kolkata.
The great woman struggled all through her life for establishing women’s rights, freedom, education, empowerment and economic emancipation creating a renaissance in the then highly conservative and British-ruled colonial society in the sub-continent.
The birth and death anniversaries of Begum Rokeya are officially being observed as Rokeya Day since 1994 at Pairaband village under Mithapukur upazila in Rangpur.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina as chief guest will hand over the ‘Begum Rokeya Padak, 2022’, to the recipients at Osmani Memorial Auditorium in Dhaka at 10:00am today, said a press release.
President Md Abdul Hamid and prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday issued separate messages paying respect to the memory of Begum Rokeya for his contribution to spread education for women.
