As I compose this in the midst of a profound feeling of stun, bitterness and bewilderment, I stay at an absolute speechlessness. Words are my most grounded suit – I love composing, and I generally have.
In any case, what do you expound on, when the individual who helped you get your first pencil, or the person who captained a mystical excursion called adolescence, withdraws from your reality?
In reasonableness, there is nothing excepting vacancy in your heart. This is the thing that a great many educators, understudies, staff individuals, graduated class and well-wishers of Sunbeams school are feeling today.
The darling organizer and head of this imperative organization Niloufer Manzur inhaled her toward the end in Dhaka at the Combined Military Hospital in the early long periods of 26 May 2020. She had tried positive for Covid-19 as of late.
Mrs Manzur was a country developer in the most genuine feeling of the word – and this as well while being encircled by a plenty of outstanding characters in her own family. Her dad, spouse and kids have made their own commitments to Bangladesh, for which they are respected.
In any case, to her understudies, Mrs Manzur held an exceptional spot in their lives, free of the noticeable status her family has across Bangladeshi society – not on the grounds that she ached for popularity or wanted consideration, but since her account of diligence, persistence and aggregate development is both lowering but energetically motivating.
Her story is one of ladies strengthening and of the ageless confirmation of putting resources into individuals and it is a story worth sharing.
Photograph: Collected
In 1973, in a country crushed by a nine-month battle for freedom, Niloufer Manzur, as most in her age, was worried about the fate of her two kids Nasim and Munize. As an instructor, she needed to assemble a future for her little children – thus, with the favors of her companions and the help of her significant other, Mrs Manzur, put her feet in the realm of the scholarly world.
Actually, it was to a greater degree a confident bounce as opposed to a dunk in questionable waters – her underlying capital originating from an advance of BDT 10,000 from Janata Bank.
She put away the cash to buy 10 work areas and a few seats, which she painted red – red representing flourishing. On 15 January, 1974 she composed Sunbeams on a slate outside her living arrangement at Indira Road and rang the ringer – and in this way started the excursion of Sunbeams School.
From moving around home furniture every day to oblige classes at her home to building what is maybe one of the most dynamic organization’s in Bangladesh, Niloufer Manzur remained as a reference point of instruction and expectation as the head of Sunbeams for a long time.
On second thought, she began the school with 8 understudies, two of them being her own kids – today, as we grieve her passing, she leaves innumerable youngsters and admirers who just wish they could express gratitude toward her in person one final time, before she withdrew this world.
Sunbeams is a school with a little understudy body – this maybe, was Mrs Manzur’s specialty image of training. She concentrated on quality, as opposed to amount. She put thought to family and network – some reprimanded this present confirmations’ procedure. However as a former student, I perceive what her superseding theory really resounded towards – it was never about what number of understudies were moving on from Sunbeams, yet rather, it has consistently been about the capacity of the school to shape people to be mindful network individuals. Individuals who share an immovable arrangement of standards and qualities. It is imperative to think about what she trusted in, and maybe these words from her message on the Sunbeams site can reveal some insight: I accept every understudy has a job for tomorrow. Every understudy has such a great amount to offer. As far as capacity. As far as ability. As far as happenstance. They are the new substance of Bangladesh. With feet that rise above fringes, we would like to set them up to be similarly at home with the east and the west.
Photograph: Collected
There were three momentous viewpoints about Mrs Manzur which I accept is pivotal to share. The principal, being her relentless commitment to Bangladesh – her darling nation. The investigation of Bengali as a language and an artistic structure is a subject of much discussion across private English-medium schools – by the by, Mrs Manzur made it a point to order the investigation of our language, our history and by definition, imparted a feeling of obligation to the country. Besides, she never avoided expressing a conspicuous truth – individuals from the Sunbeams family were and keep on being from the tip top and special segments of society. Also, in over and again driving us to recognize this benefit, while at the same time organizing a feeling of energy, she explored her understudies towards staying humble. However being thus, by staying resolved to be the eventual fate of Bangladesh. What’s more, this is a feeling of obligation which I acknowledge profoundly. Also, in conclusion, she recollected the names of each and every understudy, educator, staff part and graduated class by heart, over my time at Sunbeams – call it giving it a second thought or consider it a photographic memory, this part of Mrs Manzur keeps on stunning me.
Tributes have been pouring in for Mrs Manzur as I wrap up this. One of her understudies esteemed her a class over the rest while another analyzed her gravity, balance and pride to the anecdotal Headmaster of the Harry Potter arrangement Albus Dumbledore. Another thought about a video where she said something to a cluster of late enrolls to the Sunbeams family – an explanation which means the adoration she had for her understudies and the delight she felt in extending her family. With a trademark grin and her delicate yet enrapturing voice, she stated: I am as yet skimming on mists – Please, give personal future time down.
Be that as it may, one part of how she molded Sunbeams, is being rehashed across online life by her well-wishers: the school maxim characterized by the 7 light emissions in the logo itself. If one somehow managed to reference certain standards to portray Niloufer Manzur, the notice of these qualities, her qualities, would be sufficient – information, administration, enthusiasm, trustworthiness, lowliness, certainty and duty. The greatest tribute we can pay to this notorious teacher, is to keep cherishing these straightforward yet crucial standards over our networks.
On an individual note, I have lost a coach, a well-wisher, an instructor and a characterizing gatekeeper. Bangladesh has lost a main light in the field of current instruction – she was the sort of pioneer who never ached for wonder, yet rather devoted as long as she can remember for youngsters. She offered importance to the thought of information being power – and she flourished while instructing. She was a change-producer of the most elevated request. To make Sunbeams a head foundation in Bangladesh, that too autonomously and inside the structure of a paternalistic culture, took guts, mental fortitude, vision and an ability to serve – and she ticked all the containers. She deserts her better half, youngsters and grandkids in a condition of grieving and stun – we keep them in our musings. In any case, while it might sound narrow minded of me, Mrs Manzur had a place with every one of us – and we all things considered feel the agony of losing our own special. No words, no OP-ED and no statuses across online life can suitably pay tribute to Niloufer Manzur, in light of the fact that her effect on embellishment individuals across ages can’t be characterized by numbers or words.
There is a lot more to expound on the life of Niloufer Manzur – and there will come when her understudies themselves will share these accounts. In any case, I end by saying this: I strolled into Sunbeams in 1998 and a heavenly attendant called Mrs Manzur ventured into my life – that Mrs Manzur will everlastingly live on in my heart. Your understudies and this country owes you a gigantic obligation of appreciation. The light emission and expectation that you were, will continue, even as the sun sets on your life and we will do right by you. Rest in everlasting harmony Mrs Manzur.