RT Advantage: a Conversation about a Vulnerable Period
Adolescence is the most vulnerable period that every individual goes through in their life. The physical and mental changes that occur at this phase creates an adult from a child. But due to lack of awareness, the teenagers of our country don’t know how to cope up with all those changes, and this leads to severe consequences. Keeping this issue on the mind, Reflective Teens organized a webinar with the title ‘ Teenage Years: A conversation about a vulnerable period’ on 23rd October. We invited Ms Anjuman Parvin Ovi, a child development specialist to discuss this issue on the webinar. At first, she described precisely about what are the kind of changes that an individual face during adolescence. She told that different hormonal growths occur during this phase which is responsible for all the phycological and physical changes that an adolescent faces. She also explained the biological reasons behind the physical changes teenagers experiences during this phase and said that they are generally emotionally overwhelmed for some hormonal reasons. And so the teenagers requires as much as care and attention that we give to children. Then she said to help teenagers cope up with these changes; awareness is a must. Besides, the families must understand the emotional and physical difficulties that teenagers face during this phase and should openly discuss with their children about all those. Then she advised the adolescents to try to share their problems with adults/family members because in most cases, they are the only ones that can help. Even peers can sometimes be misleading as your peers also have the same amount of maturity and knowledge as yours. While describing the importance of adolescence, she told if this process is hampered, it could lead to life long consequences. Plus while asked about how to deal with issues which arise due to emotional override during this process such as anger issues, she advised avoiding problematic people and their opinions as much one can. Because setting up boundaries is really important for the wellbeing of our mental health, and so when someone crosses that boundary, which makes us uncomfortable and unpleasant, we should try to stop or avoid them. And she advised teenagers to start practising setting up boundaries from an early age. Later, when asked about how to deal with traumatic experiences faced during adolescence, she advised seeking professional help. In the end, while asked about how to take important decisions during this phase especially those related to our professional career and then how to convince our parents that our decision is correct, she advised gathering enough data before making any decision. She said if you can present enough data in front of a person, they are most likely to be convinced. Overall the session echoed the importance of having more discourses centring this vulnerable period and increasing awareness so that our teenagers are protected.
Second Episode of ‘Bridges, not Borders’ Held Successfully
Bridges, Not Borders is a homegrown virtual cross-cultural exchange program exclusively designed for teenagers to offer an immersive experience about cultural understanding between nations and people. By offering safe and exciting ways for young people to fulfil their dreams of discovering a new culture through learning, we help create better global citizens. In this episode, we had people from Uzbekistan as our guests. It was held on 19th November 2020. The program started at 8:00 PM (GMT+6) and lasted till 9:30 PM. Mr Arunav Saha, Community Manager of Reflective Teens, was the host on behalf of Bangladesh and Ms Xilola Kayumova, on behalf of Uzbekistan. Representatives from Bangladesh were the Campus Ambassadors from Reflective Teens – Ms Maisha Maimuna, Mr Ahnaf Safin, Ms Shamlima Deb Trena and Ms Chowdhury Rafiah Mahpara. Uring the beginning, we all had a brief introduction and ice-breaking session with each other. Next, we jumped into exhibiting our presentations, illustrating our culture and habits. Representatives from Bangladesh went first, and each of them gave a presentation comprising each segment of our culture. We exhibited our tourist places, music and history in one remarkable presentation portrayed by Ms Maisha. Mr Ahnaf showed us the ethnic and homogeneity, religions, and holidays of Bangladesh in one impressive presentation. Ms Shamlima Deb beautifully explained the food culture, entertainment and clothing habits in one presentation. Ms Rafiah Mahpara displayed the architectural sites of Bangladesh, pastime and hospitality of Bangladeshi people in one presentation and lastly, Mr Arunav portrayed the seasons of Bangladesh prodigiously in one presentation. The people from Uzbekistan beautifully portrayed and explained their culture, clothing habits and hospitality. They showcased their delicacies and spices in one amazing slide. In one of the slides, they showed some of their common words like ‘Hello’ (Salam) and ‘Goodbye’ (Xayr). In exchange, we also tried to teach them some of our common words. It took an exciting turn in the session, and we all shared a good laugh. Lastly, we ended the meeting with a heartfelt goodbye and a promise to exchange songs representing our culture and heritage. To summarize, it was a very nice and educational session where we learned the basics about each other’s cultural preferences.
Sabalok Golpo (Everyone’s Story) – A collab. with Tower Hamlets Council
Two groups of young people from different continents and cultures share what it means to transition from childhood to adulthood. Watch Sabalok Golpo (Everyone’s story) on 15 November at .1.30 pm [FREE TICKET LINK] *PLEASE NOTE THE LINK TO THE EVENT WILL BE SENT TO ATTENDEES 2 HOURS BEFORE AND THEN 10 MINUTES BEFORE THE START TIME* ‘Coming of Age’ is a right of passage that is understood and experienced in most cultures. This exciting creative writing project gives space to two groups of young people, one based in the UK and one in Bangladesh, to collaborate and share their thoughts and feelings on what their experiences and aspirations are on this theme. Through a series of Zoom workshops, the two groups have come together to share ideas and viewpoints, moulded by their different cultural and societal experiences. The results form a series of short creative writing pieces that question and provoke debate about the differences and, indeed, some similarities in their experience of traditions, expectations, independence and challenges of emerging from childhood to adulthood. Join us for the results of this fantastic creative writing project, which has connected youth cultures across continents in the time of Covid. This project has been partnered with Yusuf Munna, from the organisation ‘Reflective Teens’ in Bangladesh. About the company and people: Rokshana Khan is a successful theatre practitioner with over 30 years experience in writing, directing and performing numerous plays, in English and Bengali. She was the co-founder and artistic director of Tamarind Theatre Company, and she was also a Creative Director of ‘Between the Lines’, a People’s Palace Project. Yusuf Munna is a Bangladeshi social entrepreneur, writer, and a proud gen Z’er. Reflective Teens is a teen-focused creative platform which provides resources and opportunities for young people that helps them to reach their creative potential to the fullest. For the last seven years have been working across three divisions of Bangladesh, (Chattogram, Khulna and Dhaka) and reached 43,000+ teenagers through their 5 outreach programs. To find more about Reflective Teens activities, how to get involved and support it’s imperative to work, please visit http://localhost/ref/
Not Men; Patriarchy: Rape Culture and GBV discussion via General Meeting of Reflective Teens
On Friday, October 17, 2020, core members of Reflective Teens arranged a General Meeting with the honorable Board Members. Keeping the current context in mind, this meeting’s main agenda was to discuss Rape and Gender-Based Violence and steps Reflective Teens members could take as changemakers. The meeting was officiated by Ms. Eeshita Azad, the Non-executive Chair of Reflective Teens. Among the honorable Board Members, Ms. Warda Ashraf and Mr. Mahmudur Siddique were present. Reflective Teens Members were revered by the presence of the dignified Guest Speaker of the day, Ms. Faustina Pereira, the Head of Legal Empowerment and Sustainable Development, Centre for Peace and Justice, BRAC University. The meeting began with greetings and the introduction of everyone present in the meeting. Ms. Warda Ashraf, the facilitator of the meeting, introduced the Guest Speaker, Ms. Faustina Pereira. The discussion began with Ms. Faustina Pereira explaining the history of gender inequality and gender-based violence (GBV). The insightful meeting proceeded with a discussion about root reasons for rape culture, small actions, and languages in our daily lives that promote rape culture, and the effect GBV against women have on men. Both Core Members and Board Members were deeply immersed in the discussion by asking questions and providing their views on the topics discussed. As changemakers, Reflective Teens were advised to start with themselves and then their close ones. They were advised to be self-aware of their actions and language that generally outsets rape culture. Reflective Teens spent an eye-opening 2 hours understanding the topics and then questioning themselves where they really stand right now in this context. They believe through the guidance of the honorable Board Members and Guest Speaker, and they will work on actions to take so that they start climbing the mountain of change. The meeting ended with Ms. Warda Ashraf providing a summary of the stupendous meeting and finally saying, “We are not fighting MEN; we are fighting PATRIARCHY.”
‘Introduction to Online Workshop Participation’ held Successfully
On Tuesday, October 6, 2020, a workshop was conducted by Reflective Teens’ non-executive chair Ms. Eeshita Azad, a fellow at Arts Fundraising and Philanthropy, United Kingdom, and Mentor of Middlesex University. The title of the workshop was ‘Introduction to Online Workshop Participation’.All the executive body members were present along with three campus ambassadors. The main intention behind this workshop was to guide everyone on how to present themselves when they are attending a virtual meeting. The session began with an ice-breaking game that made everyone a bit relaxed and more interactive. Then, Ms. Eeshita Azad shared useful tricks and tips that will help us improve our etiquette in virtual meetings. She pointed out some problems that we might face during our online sessions and provided us with the solutions to those problems. The workshop was concluded with another ice-breaking game that opened up conversations and provided the participants with good fun.The workshop was immensely informative and beneficial. Everyone learned a lot and had lots of fun throughout it. Sayeda Fatema Azmi, the board secretary of Reflective Teens, stated that “The session today was very informative and engaging. It not only brought everyone into the discussion but also had various topics being discussed. I took a lot back from this workshop about how to be polite but also active in a virtual meeting. Overall, a great workshop!”
The very first RT Brainery (Virtual) completed successfully
RT Brainery (Virtual), a four-week-long online skill-building weekend program was initiated by Reflective Teens to ensure the best use of time for students during quarantine due to the COVID-19 lockdown. Under the banner of the regular RT Brainery program, this was a pilot project based only on online platform. With skilled instructors and engaging classes with a community-centric approach, this program was launched for students who took part by paying only BDT 500. The online courses were conducted via Zoom Video Conference on every Thursday and Friday from 4.00 PM to 5.00 PM. The course subjects were Origami, Story Writing, Digital Painting, and Scratch Programming. The classes began from August 6, 2020, with the Story Writing course conducted by Anindita Saha. There were eight classes in total, with two classes for each course. The subsequent classes were Scratch Programming by Samin Yaser, Origami by Tahreema Rahman Zariyat, and Digital Painting by Trayee Shayantika respectively. In total, 20 participants took part in this interactive learning program which ended on August 28, 2020. Additionally, on September 03, a Graduation Ceremony was conducted via Zoom in presence of RT members along with the participants and instructors of RT Brainery (Virtual). At the end of the casual program, a participant, Sattik Das said, “I was always interested in writing and painting. RT Brainery created an opportunity for me to utilize my quarantine in doing something productive and related to my passion. I am grateful to the Reflective Teens team and the instructors for this chance.” The program was successful for the constant effort and hard work of the Reflective Teens team, the participants and instructors. Reflective Teens Is willing to organize more programs like this in the future.
How to be a good netizen?
How to be a good netizen? A world within a world. Rohan wakes up, feeling irritated. He got into a huge fight with someone on Facebook last night. Laying on the bed, Rohan decides to scroll through Facebook. He notices a lot of people sharing their achievements. This only pisses him off. He says to himself, “Geez, what a bunch of showoffs. Pretentious people”. He doesn’t seem to find interest in anything. Instead, he ends up arguing with a bunch of strangers and hurling slangs at them when he couldn’t manage to get them to agree with him. Suddenly he starts feeling shaky and realizes its past lunchtime! The above scenario is an example of a “not so admirable” Netizen. But if you do not want to suffer like our Rohan here, here is a guide you can follow. The Internet is a very familiar term where we end up spending more time browsing this virtual bliss than the outside world. People connected to this vast platform are called Netizens. Netizens can have a significant influence on one another, and it goes both ways. You can either virtually support someone or bully him. So our wellbeing, as well as others, must know about the etiquette to being an excellent Netizen to build a healthy and robust community. Further, the significance of being a good netizen has gained even more importance during the outbreak of coronavirus. Almost everyone is stuck at home during the pandemic, with football stadiums closed and fewer restaurants to dine in, thus increasing the social media users. So, how has the coronavirus affected the time you spent on social media? Usually, netizens spend an average of 2 hours and 22 minutes a day learning, playing, and connecting with people according to the survey conducted by Salim in 2019. However, with the rise of physical distancing, people spend so much time on social networking just to connect with the people who are a few meters away. Thus, despite being locked down for weeks to months, internet users should always be aware of the adequate amount of time they spend and how they use social media. Consuming the proper amount of time for networking can not only save you from addiction but provide you with time to spend with the people around you. Don’t let the pandemic drive you into social media and intervene in your family relationship? Thus, netizens should be fully aware of the time spent on the internet, which is one of the assets of productive use of social media. Communicating with people on the internet can go very wrong very fast if not dealt with compassion and consideration. At times, the brightest of flames might go out due to the toxicity of a few. You or I might not think it’s not that common but according to an organization, namely DO SOMETHING, at least 30% of the total internet population has faced cyber-bullying in his/her time on the internet. The spectrum for bullying ranges from a hateful/abusive comment to an unsolicited picture to an individual. Now, as a responsible netizen, what are our duties in this case? The first step is to educate ourselves on the whole concept. We might think that commenting something mean is harmless, but it has long-lasting effects on the person’s overall well being. They experience anxiety, fear, depression, and low self-esteem. As sensible netizens in many cases, even when retaliation seems like a good option, the smart thing is to step away and ignore the bully since chances are they do it for attention. Other than that, if we are personally offended by something someone has posted there is always a chance to give them a knock and let them know our feelings. A little amount of communication and compassion can go a long way during these difficult times. People are at their most vulnerable state during this pandemic. False information and rumours can exacerbate not only severe emotional turmoil but also cause excessive anxiety to an already panic-stricken mind. With the spread of COVID-19 came the wave of rumours starting from drinking bleach to institutions opening amidst the pandemic. Students who were supposed to appear for the HSC-2020 are already under a lot of distress, and fueling these sorts of misinformation creates unrest among the candidates. Clickbait is an essential issue in the spread of misinformation. People tend to click on anything scandalous and later on the go around sharing these news articles on social media. Under these circumstances, what can we do as netizens to prevent such propagation? Checking news sources and where the report was issued is a great place to start. Many websites produce mass content without credible sources, which can be identified pretty quickly and are distinguishable from real materials. Overall, as responsible netizens, all of us should be careful of the articles circulated to us. If we come across any fake news, we should report it to the respective authorities immediately. The idea of the “World Wide Web” has been revolutionary. The Internet is now a part of our growing up as human beings. It’s a world that’s exposed to everyone from children to adults. It’s our moral obligation not to create such an environment that leads to chaos and unhealthy scenarios. Let’s maintain the etiquette that would make us excellent Netizens. Let us be honest, tolerant and optimistic. Why? Because undoubtedly, that’s the cool thing to do. – – – – – Jointly written by: Jannatul Wara, Musarat Habib, Pema Yangzom, Sifat Tasnim & Tahia Binte Salim.
Are Educational Institutions still worth it in 2020?
“2020” is now a battle arena to us and among everything, Covid-19 strikes our heart with terror. The emergence of this devastation has affected the young people in a drastic way. Traditional institutions were some of the first places to shut down as a result of the pandemic. The American Council on Education projects that nationwide enrollment in the fall will be down by 15% for revenue loss, conservatively, resulting in a loss of $23 billion just for tuition fees. It is estimated that some schools might not survive through Covid-19 while some say that 345 universities across the United States may have to shut down in the coming years if the pandemic continues. Having said that, students have the alternative to learn and get educated from unconventional online learning sites like Coursera, edX, Udemy etc. Bangladesh too is following the same path. Online learning is not a new term in this 21st century. During this omen of COVID 19, all students are forced to choose online classes because it’s hazardous to attend the educational institutions. Now it appears that learners, in general, got two options. The online courses provided by platforms like ” EdX, Coursera, Udemy” and online courses by their “Traditional institutions” or the institutions they are studying in. Now although the students are taking online classes provided by their conventional institutions they still to have to pay for things like the library, dorm facilities, sports and transportation fees. You might be thinking to yourself that “WAIT, why are they making the students pay for stuff that they are not even using?”An unimpressed student posted on twitter that”By September, she will lose almost 3000 dollars to rent a house she’s not even living in.”. If you are a student at Harvard, your 4 year Bachelor’s course will cost you 50000$ even if you’re taking online classes (Whoa!). Quite unfair, right? First, let’s take an overview of the costs and quality of different types of online course providers. Coursera, edX, etc are quite well known. They provide a wide range of courses. For example, Coursera provides three types of online courses: Individual Course For 4-6 weeks $29-$99 (some free courses) Specialized Program 4-6 months $39-$79 per month Online Degree 1-3 years $15-$25,000 The instructors are highly professional and some of them already teach in respected institutions. But would you pay 50,000 US Dollars for your education? Or you would go with 5000 instead? Did your mind just say 5000? Well, buckle up, because I might just convince you to pay 50000 instead. During this omen of Covid-19, we all know how our life is right now. Hundreds of hours wasted on absolutely nothing. And the educational institutions are trying to keep up with the situation. Now, what’s the difference between the conventional and unconventional platform? Glad you asked. Although these unconventional platforms provide very professional courses, do you think they can be used as an alternative to the ” Traditionals”? The answer would be no. And here’s why. The listed institutions can give you a lot of things that the online platforms can’t cope up with. Let’s do some fact check: ◾ Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree. Quite popular terms, yes? Now, these so-called “Degrees” are essential for any future jobs either you want to get to a company or any research facility. Well, that’s not going to be the case if you’re going to join Tesla though. Elon Musk wouldn’t care about your degree at all. But once again, only an exception. ◾ Your degree says a sure thing about yourself. That you have been introduced with much dimensional knowledge that’s going to be super handy in solving any particular problem in that area or say to dig things deeper. But is a degree everything? Some of you might disagree with this. Because an independent learner too can have better performance in a particular field. But I’m afraid the knowledge that’s served in those online platforms are only bite-sized chunks of knowledge that are made digestible for enthusiasts. For a whole meal? You’ve got to turn your heads to your varsities. Now we can’t say that 50,000$ is a piece of cake. It is not. But let’s not forget not every institution is going to make you pay 50k. And again you might complain that they are making you pay for stuff you’re not even using. But you might have to look at things in another way. Not only are you paying for the maintenance cost you are also helping the people who live off it. So if you can pay 30,000$ to 500,000$, why not? Grab your chance to get to the Ivy League colleges. And if you have the potential but not the money, you can always get a scholarship. It’s clear that the free/paid courses like edX, Coursera, Udemy, etc are immensely helpful but are we getting the same amount of recognition and brand value which we can get from our traditional ones? Then again, if we leave our university courses midway right e it’s online now, we might be recognised as dropouts. Now you have to choose your side. Do you want to pay a huge amount of money in your varsity or you want to be an independent learner and shift to Coursera, Udemy instead? Therefore, are the educational institutions worth it in this pandemic of 2020? I think you know your answer already. – – – – – Jointly written by: Jannatul Wara, Musarat Habib, Pema Yangzom, Sifat Tasnim & Tahia Binte Salim.
General Meeting Held Successfully
On Friday, August 07, 2020, Reflective Teens team arranged a General Meeting with all the honourable Board Members. The main motive behind the meeting was to introduce the respected Board Members to the core team of Reflective Teens. The meeting was presided by the Non-Executive Chair, Ms Eeshita Azad. Mr Kazi Monirul Kabir, Mr Rashedur Rahman, Mr Musfique Ahmed, Ms Warda Ashraf, Ms Fahmida Suma and Mr Mahmudur Siddique were present among the honourable board members. The meeting began by exchanging Eid greetings with each other. During the insightful meeting, the honourable members delivered their inspirational stories to the enthusiastic core team of Reflective Teens and advised them to continue doing their great work for the community. Reflective Teens believes that their guidance will lead the team towards doing better for the country and fulfilling their vision.
Kazi Monirul Kabir, Country’s Premier Tech Entrepreneur and Board Member of Reflective Teens Accepted as a Member of Forbes Technology Council
Kazi Monirul Kabir, one of our honourable board members have been selected as a member of Forbes Technology Council, an invitation-only organization for Senior-Level Technology Executives & Entrepreneurs from around the globe. Members are respected tech leaders and executives selected for the council based on their deep knowledge and diverse experience in the industry.