A good number of educated people in the district have got an opportunity to develop their skill in English language, thanks to the initiative of Jamalpur Zila Parishad.

Anwar Hossain, chief executive officer of the Zila Parishad, opened the three-month-long course in December 2016, after appointing a moderator cum spoken English teacher.

“A batch comprising 35 participants, who must be at least graduates, attend a three-month-long free course. A two-hour-long learning session is conducted for them on workdays in the parishad's auditorium,” said Anwar, who monitors the course.

Seventy graduates of two batches earlier completed the course while the third batch is running since February 2, said Radoan Khaled Razib, the teacher.

Most of the participants show confidence to write English well and speak it fluently, he said.

“The participants are given instructions on the basic grammar rules and then apply those in making sentences. They are engaged in conversations on different topics of everyday life and encouraged to make presentations in English,” Razib said.

Razuaun Ahmmed, an honours and masters degree holder in management, attended the course with the second batch, which ended on November 2 last year.

“After two weeks, I got appointment as an assistant manager at NGO 'Society for Social Service' as I was able to prove my language skill. Employers often seek good English knowing people,” he said.

Some participants of the running batch, including Kawsar, Selina Aktar, Nazrul Islam and Nasir Hossain, said their writing and speaking skills in English are developing gradually.