North South University’s (NSU) School of Humanities and Social Sciences (SHSS) successfully hosted a seminar, as part of the NSU SHSS Faculty Seminar Series on “Rabindranath Thakur’s Unfinished Project – Letters from Russia: Key to Nation-building through Education, Rural Development and Technology for the Future of Bangladesh” on 29 April, 2026 at the NSU SHSS Conference Room, a press release said.
This session accumulated a broad range of audience from faculty members, academics, students, to development practitioners and cultural enthusiasts. The speaker for this session was Professor Halimur Rashid Khan, Director, Institutional Quality Assurance Cell at NSU.
Professor Mahbubur Rahman, Chairman, Department of History and Philosophy at NSU, moderated the session and welcomed the esteemed Keynote speaker. Professor Md. Rizwanul Islam, Dean of the SHSS at NSU, provided the opening remarks, where he highlighted the everlasting relevance of Tagore’s socio-political philosophy and the importance of re-examining historical texts to overcome modern challenges.
In his presentation, Professor Khan mentioned that the “Letters from Russia” should be viewed as a profound inquiry into how societies can reconcile rapid technological progress with ethical values. He argued that Tagore’s observations of Soviet experiments in mass education and agricultural reform were not ideological endorsements, but rather a search for a model of ethical modernity.
Professor Khan further demonstrated that Tagore was a pioneer practitioner whose work in Sriniketan and Visva-Bharati, focusing on cooperative rural development and financial inclusion, actually anticipated modern development models like microfinance.
During the Q&A segment, faculty members engaged with Professor Khan on the practicality of implementing Tagorean educational reforms today and the complexities of adapting Soviet-era social organization to a modern market economy. The engaging discussion captivated all attendees at the event.
