Study is the first and foremost duty of the students. But there are some other duties that students should do in their free time. These duties are the duties of their society, and this is known as social service. Side by side with their studies, students can easily take part in doing some social service. They can participate in illiteracy removing programmers, they can help the village people use mechanized farming. They can help people in the time of natural calamities. They can make people aware of the dangers of environmental pollution, population growth, gender inequality, etc. If they participate in such social service, patriotic feelings will develop in their minds. They will be true patriots to lead the country properly when they will grow up. They will be able to serve the country better when they will enter jobs after finishing their study. They can build or destroy a nation. Hence, they play a vital role in society as well as in a country.
In Bangladesh, almost half of the people cannot read and write. It is not possible for Govt. alone to remove illiteracy from the country. Students can easily give some voluntary service in this regard. They can give the light of education to the illiterate village folk. They can teach them in night schools or in community schools. During the holidays they can go out for a campaign to make people aware of the importance of education. There are many things which can be done without depending on the government.
Village people are usually backward in their thinking. There are many superstitions among them. Some people think that birth control is against religion. Students can go to these people and can help them remove their superstitions. They can encourage them to family planning. They can help them realize that a planned family can be a happy family. They can remove bad customs and inform the people of the laws of health and sanitation.
Students can contribute to improving national health by joining the health-related campaign. They thin make the illiterate people aware of the importance of taking a balanced food. They can make people aware of the importance of hygiene. They can join the anti-smoking campaign to make people aware of the dangers of smoking and teach smokers how to quit smoking. The female students can teach illiterate women Folk how to maintain their reproductive health and bring up their children properly.
Students can help suffering people during natural calamities. During severe floods or tidal surge, they can collect funds and distribute these among the victims. They can stand by the homeless and penniless people and take part in relief operations.
It is important to remember that in Bangladesh students have a glorious contribution. Students protected the prestige of our mother tongue. The language martyrs are our young students who protected the prestige of our mother tongue in exchange for their lives. Seeing the great force of the students our national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam wrote:
“We are a power, we are a force
We are a band of students.”
Students are the future leaders of a country. They are an integral part of our society. Through social service, they can enrich their minds and serve the people. Their participation in social service instills patriotic feelings in their minds. They learn how to love the country and its people. Getting involved in nation-building activities they can develop fellow feelings. The students can loophole the image of the nation through their social service. Thus they contribute to social peace and prosperity. They should serve the society without any selfish motive. So every student must participate in doing some nation-building tasks.
