BNP Standing Committee member Gayeshwar Chandra Roy -File Photo

DHAKA, June 17, 2025 (BSS) - Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Standing Committee member Gayeshwar Chandra Roy today said the country's future depends on the children of today.

"The nation must remember that the roadmap to a new Bangladesh lies within its children," he said while speaking as chief guest at the final selection event of the "13th National Child Artiste Competition-Shapla Kuri-2025" at the seminar hall of the IDEB Building in Kakrail of the city.

Shapla-Kuri, a cultural organization for children, aims to develop and encourage the latent talent of the country's young artistes. 

Gayeshwar said that for the past 17 years, children have been deprived of true education and cultural enlightenment. 

"Through ill-education and foreign cultural aggression, the fascist government has culturally oppressed the society. But now, we want no more aggression on our culture, we want cultural enrichment," he said.

Gayeshwar Chandra Roy said, "Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman envisioned today's and tomorrow's Bangladesh in the faces of children. With this vision, he established the Shidhu Academy (children's academy) and the Children's Park. He also launched the "Notun Kuri" (New Buds) competition on television. To preserve the spirit of the now-defunct Notun Kuri, BNP's acting chairman Tarique Rahman inaugurated the "Shapla-Kuri" competition in 1999, thus beginning the activities of the Bangladesh Zia Shishu Academy." 

Bangladesh Zia Shishu Academy arranged the competition across the country. Young artistes who won the primary elections from all over the country are participating in the final selection phase, which will continue till June 21.

Academy Director Samina Akhter conducted the event. Director General of Bangladesh Zia Shishu Academy M. Humayun Kabir presided over the event while dance director Ivan Shahriar Sohag, actress and dancer Mehbooba Mahnoor Chandni, presenter Ruhani Salsabil Labonno and engineer Muhammad Anisuzzaman took part.