Sunday's weekend is like Friday

Sunday was fixed as a holiday in Bangladesh after independence. But now there is no holiday on Sunday. Now the holiday is Friday. The holiday was changed by the military ruler Hussain Muhammad Ershad. The announcement of change of holidays came into effect from 1st April 1984.

1984 news

But the decision was made on March 15, 1984 itself. The next day, a news column about this was published in the newspaper. It said, 'New tenure of government office from 1st April'. It was said in the report published in Ittefa, 'From April 1, the working hours of the government offices and courts of the capital will be changed. The office hours of secretariats, government departments, departments, autonomous bodies in the capital will be: 7:30 AM to 2 PM. There will be only one weekend, Friday. The weekend will be Friday all over the country. Schedule of government and semi-government offices outside Dhaka will be from 1st April 10 am to 5 pm with half an hour break at noon. The decision taken at the highest level yesterday evening was officially announced last night.

Ittefaq of 1997

Ershad imposed military rule on March 24, 1982. And when this decision was made in March 1984, Ershad was still the president and chief martial law administrator. Ershad then announced the upazila election. Amid intense protests against this, the weekend was changed. Even though the upazila election was postponed, the weekend was not changed. Ershad used to take various decisions to divert people's attention. The political parties protested this in a weak voice. Ershad essentially brought about change in the holiday by exploiting religious sentiments. Although there was no demand from any side in this regard.

Another major decision regarding the holiday came on May 29, 1997. On that day it was said that from May 31 there will be two days of weekend - Friday and Saturday. The government announcement said the two-day holiday would increase efficiency and productivity of workers, reduce fuel costs and reduce pollution from vehicles. However, there was a lot of discussion about this. The opposition BNP openly opposed it. This two-day weekend didn't last long. In 2001, the BNP changed it after coming to power and once again the weekend was kept as one day, Friday.

Prothom Alo of 2005

The BNPE in 2005 again fixed Friday and Saturday as a holiday on September 5. This two-day holiday is effective from September 9. which is still running. Fuel economy was cited as the main reason for this. The government hoped it would reduce electricity consumption. However, business leaders including FBCCI, the apex body of businessmen, wanted Sunday to be a holiday. Because Sunday is a holiday in most countries around the world. The demands of the traders were mainly for economic reasons.

Muslims perform Friday prayers on Friday. Jews observe religious rituals on Saturday and Christians go to church on Sunday. Determining the weekend mainly depends on these three factors. But some countries also choose economic reasons. They say the reason for this is coordination with most countries especially for transactions.

Ending the article with an interesting information. Those who enjoy a two-day weekend should be grateful to American businessman Henry Ford. Because even a hundred years ago, people worked six days a week. Sunday was the only holiday. In 1926, Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor Company, first started giving his employees two days off, Saturday and Sunday. Other US companies also offer two days off because of its positive impact on productivity. Six years later, the US government adopted the same policy, and since 1932, workers have been enjoying a two-day weekly holiday.