Eye check-up ends in a hearse

BOGURA, Aug 30: They came to school on Sunday to see their headteacher, Ranjila Parvin.

Instead, they saw her for the last time through the glass of a hearse.

The children of Bagbari Government Girls’ Primary School arrived as they had on countless other mornings, carrying their books and schoolbags, expecting the familiar presence of the teacher they loved.

But that morning, an ambulance stood before the school.

Inside lay the body of Parvin, 56, who had spent nearly four decades teaching and caring for generations of children at the school in Gabtali, Bogura.

Some children stood silently beside the ambulance, peering through the glass for one last look. Others broke down in tears.

For many of them, Parvin was more than a headteacher. She was the teacher who had watched them grow, comforted them when they were afraid and cared for them with the affection of a mother.

She had begun her career at the school as an assistant teacher in January 1988 and eventually became its headteacher.

Her final journey began with a routine trip to Dhaka for an eye check-up.

Parvin and her husband, Abdul Matin, left Bogura by bus late Friday night to see a physician at Ispahani Islamia Eye Institute and Hospital in Farmgate.

After getting off at Kallyanpur early Saturday, they took an auto-rickshaw towards the hospital.

Near the South Plaza of the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, two men on a motorcycle approached the auto-rickshaw from behind and tried to snatch Parvin’s bag.

She fell from the vehicle and suffered a severe head injury.

Now Matin rushed her to Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital. But the doctors could not save her. She was declared dead.

A journey that had begun with a simple medical appointment had ended in tragedy.

Matin later filed a murder case with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station.

On Sunday, Rapid Action Battalion-2 (RAB-e) said it had arrested two people over the incident, including the alleged prime suspect Poni, also known as “Para Ponir”. The motorcycle allegedly used in the mugging was also recovered.

RAB-2 said the identity of the second suspect would be disclosed later.

Parvin’s death has also renewed concerns over mugging in the capital.

DMP data show that 172 mugging cases were filed in Dhaka during the first six months of this year, with 402 people arrested. Wari recorded the highest number of cases, with 38, followed by areas under the Tejgaon division, with 34.

But behind those numbers is a grieving family�"and a school that has lost a woman who had become part of its history.

Parvin’s body arrived in Gabtali around 2am Sunday after an autopsy in Dhaka.

At about 2pm, her first namaz-e-janaza was held on the school ground.

The same school where she had spent almost 40 years teaching was now filled with mourners.

About an hour later, she was buried at the family graveyard at her husband’s ancestral home in Gabtali, her elder brother Zahidul Islam said.

At home in Rahmannagar, her only daughter, Takiya Akter Raisa, a Class 9 student, was left devastated by the loss of her mother.
And at Bagbari school, an unbearable silence replaced the familiar voice of the headteacher.

For nearly four decades, Parvin had taught generations of children, corrected their mistakes, encouraged them and offered comfort when they needed it.
On Sunday, those children gathered not for a lesson, but for a final goodbye.

The teacher they had come to see was gone. Only memories remained.