This document provides background information and outlines the objectives and significance of a research study on Aroni Children's Theater in Meherpur, Bangladesh. Specifically: - It discusses the history and challenges currently facing children's organizations in Bangladesh, using Aroni Children's Theater as a case study. - The objectives are to understand the rise and fall of participation at Aroni over the last 10 years and how stakeholders perceive the situation. - The research question asks how Aroni became a destination for cultural improvement and what led to its dysfunction over time. - The significance is that this research could provide insights into why children's organizations in Bangladesh are becoming inactive.

1. Course Code: MSJ11511
Course Title: Communication Research
Are children organizations any longer effective?: a study on Aroni
Children’s Theater, Meherpur.
Submitted to
Dr. Sumon Rahman
Associate Professor
Department of Media Studies & Journalism
University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB)
Submitted by
K. M. Munmun Hafiz
ID: 153054012

2. CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background. When I was a child I often used to spend my time in a children
organization, named Aroni Children’s Theater. I was only 9 years old, when I was
involved with the activities of that organization. Aroni Children’s Theater had two
different platforms, one was Aroni Group Theater and another was Aroni Children's
Theater. I was involved in the children theater. We had our rehearsals in almost every
day. It was a great opportunity for me to interact with each other and with different age
groups.
Children organizations are kind of a social gathering platform where different ages of
children gather to participate in socio cultural activities. These organizations help children
interact with each other; identify and share different point of views and the cultural
thinking. Not only these organizations make children working together, but also enrich
children’s imagination and creativity by inspiring to study literature. Like many other
countries, children organization became popular in Bangladesh since it offers a positive
character development of children. But the trend is changed. Presently, children
organization is not functioning properly and children participation is also reducing in a
large scale. The organization with a glorious past is declaring its presence only with a
signboard or a very few activity. Therefore, a close analysis of these factors is necessary.
This research paper will explore the factors that can make children organizations
unsuccessful. In the context of Aroni Theatre, which is located in Meherpur, Bangladesh,
the research paper will study the rise and fall of a children organization in terms of
children’s enrolment and engagement over last 10 years. By careful evaluation of the

3. internal and external stakeholders (such as organizers, patrons and members), this
research paper will analyze why children are not participating in those organizations and
why cultural organizations are not functioning properly. Since these two are
interdependent and probably mutually influencing each other, an ethnographic
perspective would be helpful to understand the complex dynamics of this research. Thus
this research paper will intend to understand the failure of the children organizations in
Bangladesh in bigger picture.
1.2 History of Children organizations in Bangladesh. During the first quarter of thirties
Gurusaday established the first teenage children organization in Bengal Presidency
(Byazid, 2013). Ananda Bazar Patrika established a children’s organization named Moni
Mela by the late thirties (Byazid, 2013). Mukul Fouz was one of the oldest children
organizations that appeared in India under the British rule. This organization was derived
from the children’s page of the Daily Azad named Mukuler Mahfil (“A Glorious Chapter
of Kachi-Kanchar Mela”, 2015). Kazi Nazrul Islam, the national poet of Bangladesh,
chose the name “Mukuler Mahfil” and the organization was formed on 1941. Motivated
by Mukuler Mahfil, a new organization Mukuler Mela emerged that continued its
activities in Bengal, Bihar, Odisha and Assam. In 1947 the name Mukuler Mela was
changed to Mukul Fouz (Kids forums are linked with wars, 2015). “Khelaghor Asor” was
originated from the children’s page of the Daily Songbad titled as Khelaghor. Writer
Habibur Rahman formed “Khelaghor Asor” in 1951 which got an organizational form in
1954. The organization titled “Sobuj Sena” was established in 1955. Rokanuzzaman
Khan Dadavai founded “Kochi Kachar Mela” in 1955, which published a magazine
“Kochi Kacha” in 1964 and it continued publishing till the Liberation war of Bangladesh.

4. The first Bangladeshi children’s organization after independence was “Suryasena” that
appeared in 1974. The daily newspaper Purbodesh started “Chander Hat” in the same
year. In 1974 another organization was established named “Deshari”. In 1978, “Deshari”
of Dhaka district, “Tarun Sangha” of Barisal, “Jhinge Phul” of Chittagong, “Shapla Kuri”
of Sylhet “Sabuj Sangha" of Faridpur, "Arun Prater Torun Dal" of Rajshahi and several
regional organizations combined and emerged as a sole organization with the name of
“Phul Kuri Asor" in Dhaka. In 1979, it published the monthly magazine Phul Kuri. Later,
more young children groups were established all over the country such as Sabankur Mela,
Zia Shishu Academy, Sukanta Academy, Kishor Mela, Nazrul Sena, Phul Pakhider Mela,
Phuler Mela, Sheikh Russell Shishu-kishor Songothon, Addhoyon Shishu Foundation and
many others (Byazid, 2013).
Aroni Theatre was established in 1994 in Meherpur district of Bangladesh. After 2 years
of its group theatre activities, Aroni Theatre established Aroni Children’s Theatre in
1996. The main objective of Aroni Children Theatre was to promote children theatre all
over the country. Soon Aroni Children Theatre formed their children theatre troupe. The
organization received membership from People Theatre Association of Bangladesh in
1997 and Group Theatre Association in 2000. Aroni Children’s Theatre participates in
Children’s Theatre Festival arranged by Peoples Theatre Association and Group Theatre
Association every year.
1.3 Challenges of Children Organization. In Bangladesh, there was a time when children
were eager to participate in socio cultural activities like sports, music, dance and art in the
past. Parents were also interested to involve their children in various multicultural
activities. There were a big number of children organization worked nationally, even with
district branches. However, those children organizations are now only exist in signboards.

5. Many of them disappeared and a few are surviving with fewer activities, like Kochi
Kachar Mela and Khelaghor Asor. Though, in the early 1990s, a national organizational
platform named People’s Theatre Association was established in Bangladesh, it only
arranges one national festival per year. The Association does not have any other activity
throughout the year.
Aroni Theatre and Aroni Children’s Theatre also had a generous amount of members and
children. Once, the Aroni Children’s Theatre had 54 members in children troupe.
However, at the present the number reduced by 10-12 member, who are not even active
regularly.
Therefore, a close investigation about why children are not participating in socio cultural
activities and not involving in those organizations is becoming imperative. The reasons
and factors that are making children cultural organizations unsuccessful are worth looking
into. The factors that are influencing children not to participate in multicultural activities
and causing the cultural organizations being inactive are interdependent each other.
Hence, a close analysis of these factors is necessary. An ethnographic perspective of
Aroni Children’s Theatre might explain the reasons of the failure of the children cultural
organizations in Bangladesh in general.

6. 1.4 Research Objectives. Considering the issues, it is necessary to find out the factors that
can make a children’s organization inactive or dysfunctional. To find out the factors in
general, a close analysis will be conducted on Aroni Children’s theatre as a case study.
Indentifying the factors and issues that are making Aroni Children’s Theatre inactive, the
objectives of this research paper will be-
 To understand the rise and fall of Aroni Theatre in terms of children’s enrolment and
engagement over last 10 years.
 To perceive how the situation of Aroni has been explained and understood by its
various stakeholders (such as organizers, patrons, and members).
1.5 Research Question. Based on my research objective, my research question will be
following-
 How Aroni Children’s Theater has been chosen as a destination for children (and their
parents) for their cultural improvements? How this has been evolved over the years
and finally became dysfunctional?
1.6 Significance of the Research. This research will add new value to the academic
community as there has not been any research conducted. There are researches conducted
on the effect of cultural organization on children but the factors that are making children
organizations inactive were not explored ever, let alone in Bangladesh. Using
ethnography as a data collecting tool will add more value to the academic community as
it is as rare as any research on the factors that are making children organizations a failure.

7. Therefore, this research will add important value to the academic community to explore
further.
1.7 Scope and Limits. This research will try to identify the trend of Bangladeshi children's
organization, but it will focus on Aroni Children’s Theatre, Meherpur only. So this
research will not explain or portray the overall scenario of Bangladeshi children's
organization’s present situation or the trend of it. So this research paper will try to
understand Bangladeshi children’s organization’s present trend through the lance of Aroni
Children’s Theater.
1.8 Research Implication. Children organization is as important as schools, particularly for
cultural improvements. This research will add value to the research on this vanishing
trend and will seek answers of why such a promising tradition is decreasing eventually.
There were a lot of organizations actively working in Bangladesh once. They were
thriving with activities and members, thus, spreading a cultural movement throughout the
country. Bangladesh has a rich history of culture; various modalities of culture have
enriched the country even more. These organizations were the one that were helping
people know about their culture, especially children. Due to recent change of
globalization and change of media has flipped the situation completely. Most of the
organizations are not functioning properly today, and thus, the cultural movement of this
country has pressed a pause. This research paper will add value to them to restore the
vanishing trend so that these organizations can flourish once again.

8. Bibliography.
1. Byazid, Ahmed (2013, April 24). Shishu Songhotoner Surur Kotha. Daily Amar Desh.
Retrieved from
http://www.amardeshonline.com/pages/details/2013/04/25/197489#.VoBCuPl97De
2. A Glorious Chapter of Kachi-Kanchar Mela (2015, October 15). Daily Sun. Retrieved
from http://www.daily-sun.com/home/printnews/83454
3. Kids forums are linked with wars. (2015, 09 26). Retrieved 12 28, 2015,
from Poltalk: https://poltalk.wordpress.com/