Gang Culture: The New Worry

The 'gang culture' among the teenagers is becoming an alarming issue in Bangladesh. The reckless behavior of a section of teenagers who are yet to finish their college education are the cause of the new worry for the country. The main reason for the growth of gang culture is the long closure of educational institutions due to COVID-19.

The young are spending their time chatting with friends in the neighborhood ignoring the government-prescribed hygiene rules and many of them are getting involved in various crimes. They hang out in the neighborhoods, alleys of the market and at different times they are criticized for committing crimes. The local administration, local people's representatives and concerned guardians were embarrassed after these incidents.

After the murder of Adnan Kabir in Sector 13, Uttara in January 2017, the issue of 'gang culture' came to the limelight of the authorities concerned. The teenagers, known as 'Nine Star' and 'Disco Boys', were initially involved in 'partying', honking horns, riding motorcycles and harassing girls on the streets. Since then, the scope of these groups has gradually increased and each group of 15-20 year olds has 10 to 20 members. Since then, in the last few years, several teenage gangs have repeatedly given birth to various incidents all over the country including Dhaka and Chittagong.

The gang culture of talented teenagers has grown exponentially in the last few years. In front of the educational institution, the scoundrels chatted all day long. Moreover, the harassment of naughty and juvenile gangsters in educational institutions has increased at an alarming rate, that is why the students are constantly being sexually harassed.

Many students are being forced to drop out of school in the face of sexual harassment. Not just sexual harassment, but public life has become unsafe as teenage gangsters have become reckless in their criminal activities. Incidents like murder are happening while trying to harass the opponent. Law enforcement is also quite embarrassed and concerned about the nuisance of gang culture among teenagers.

Teen gangs take up positions in tea shops or special places in the alleys of the city. Various crimes are being organized by them all the time. In particular, juvenile gangs or terrorist groups carry out horrific crimes, including motorcycle theft, yaba consumption, snatching, sale and consumption of alcohol, and extortion. Extreme anxiety has been created in the city due to the increase in scandal or juvenile gang crime. Parents are extremely apprehensive as there is no way to resist them socially.

Gang culture and juvenile delinquency are the most important social issues at the present time. In order to solve this problem, first of all it is necessary to identify the cause. Many say that the lack of good family education and moral and religious value is mainly responsible for this. In this case, the family should be most aware and adolescents should be given enough time in the family without being left alone or isolated. Parents must come forward first. Adequate monitoring of what a child does, who he mixes with, and where he spends his time can help prevent a child from getting involved in a bad culture like a gang.

There is no alternative to ensuring the teaching of religious and moral values.In fact, in today's society, the family's sense of responsibility is diminishing and its importance is also decreasing. As a result, none of the parents, brothers and sisters are feeling the proper sense of love and affection towards anyone.

We are very tired of running after this materialistic society. Both parents are not able to give their children the time they need to run after jobs and money. As a result, children do not care about parents or adults. In a small matter, the family system is collapsing and boys and girls are following and imitating them and later on these are being reflected in them. In many cases, it is also failing to introduce a minimum of humanity and a sense of humanity.

Not getting the real education of being human from family, as both the parents are employed, they are often unable to pay attention to their child's well-being even if they want to. As a result, children are being deprived of moral values and good education from the supervision of home teachers or domestic workers and many children are going astray, which is making the individual, society and the state think extremely.

The importance of family education in mental development and moral character formation is immense. Basically the handcuffs of the child's education are found in the mother's lap and the child gets primary education from the family. As a result, the family is the first education of human children. The child's values, character, consciousness and beliefs are originated from the family. Just as parents cherish the ideals, so do their children.

The family is like a well-arranged garden full of love and affection where each member gets ample opportunity to develop his character traits, enriched with moral qualities, they beautify and enchant the surrounding environment. It is a safe haven that protects the baby from all the filth and attacks from outside.

It is possible to be educated by studying from an academic institution, to get a higher degree by becoming a meritorious person, to cross the borders of the country and to get a name from abroad, but if you don't get good education from your family, all education will fade away at once. What every human being needs most is good family moral education. Because civility, politeness, morality, gratitude, respect for one another, kindness, generosity - these are not things that can be achieved from an institutional institution. These are rooted in the upbringing of family values and good education.

At present, if we focus on the family and the society, the aspect of immorality comes to the fore. People from different walks of life including parents, siblings, neighbors consider the importance of the religious aspect to be absolutely insignificant in the need of character. But parents and officials should come forward to form the character of the youth of the family and society. It is not necessary to run a public campaign to eradicate drugs and terrorism, it is necessary to take realistic initiatives.

For this, the highest importance should be given to following the religious discipline in the formation of character. Young people should be made interested in religious discipline. Islam or any religion never supports all that is unfair, ugly or tasteless. Rather, they need to be encouraged to eliminate them. There is no substitute for religious discipline to make people fully characterized.

There are many parents and guardians who do a lot for their children but they are completely ignoring the character of their child, don't care at all. They despise religion as conventional. As a result, it affects every turn of the children's future lives. They take care of all the destructive acts, involved in all immoral activities.

So, we need to study more and more religious rules and books to build character and in practical life, we have to keep trying to implement it. If we can ensure a life where family education, good education and religious values are upheld, then it will be easier to have youths who will become good citizens. In order to control juvenile delinquency, not only the law enforcement agencies should enforce strict laws, but also all concerned should come forward to ensure a better future for the youths.


Md. Zillur Rahaman is a Banker
and Freelance Columnist