A bold new education effort in Bangladesh

Enterprising young teachers aim to break the cycle of poverty by providing English-language education for the poorest of the poor.

By Syed Tashfin Chowdhury

She may be labelled by some as underprivileged, but Class III student Shamima Hossain Lily has big dreams. The 14-year-old plans to be a psychologist one day.

Her father Delowar Hossain, a construction worker, makes about Tk 5,000 ($62.3) a month, while her mother Monoara is a homemaker. But Lily hit her academic stride once she joined the JAAGO Foundation School.

“JAAGO’s teaching style, countless workshops aimed at mental health development and its library have changed me for good,” said Lily, who attends the JAAGO school in Rayerbazar of Dhaka.

JAAGO, which means “rise” in Bengali, began as one man’s hobby helping a few poor kids, and grew into an ambitious vision: that of providing quality, free, English-language school in every district of Bangladesh for students whose family income is less than $2 a day.

Growing pains

Growing up in an affluent family in Dhaka, Korvi Rakshand was expected to take over the family business when he completed his education. But at the age of 21, his life took an unexpected turn.

Hoping to give underprivileged kids a leg up, he and some friends rented a room in the Rayerbazar slum area and, in November 2007, began teaching 17 kids English.

“It was not a school. It was more like a place where some children came to learn English from me,” Rakshand told Khabar. “A few days later, these children asked me, ‘Sir, when will we be promoted?’ Their enthusiasm motivated me to open up a school.”

As the effort progressed, the young teachers encountered various obstacles. Each new problem spawned a new programme to address it.

After receiving a $300 donation from an uncle, they decided to provide students with uniforms. “The students were very happy,” Rakshand recalled. But the happiness was short-lived.

“A week later, they began coming in dirty uniforms. We realised they were not buying soap as they hardly have the money to have three straight meals per day. They did not have any concept of brushing their teeth or washing their hands. This got us to initiate the hygiene programme. A month later, our teachers told us that most of them are tired and dozing off in class due to lack of nutrition. We began giving them food then,” he said.

“Although initially our plan was to provide free English medium education to the children, as time passed, our causes gradually branched out from this core to other areas like women empowerment for their mothers, and clean water for the children.”

Over the next few years, despite many obstacles, JAAGO became a foundation overseeing six schools with 70 teachers, serving some 1,200 children; a first aid centre, a sewing centre and a pilot project on computer-facilitated learning.

The schools are located in Korail and Rayerbazar in Dhaka, and in Tongi, Rajshahi, Chittagong and Gaibandha districts.

“Two more JAAGO schools are in the pipeline,” Rakshand told Khabar, adding that the aim is ultimately to “have a JAAGO school at each of the 64 districts in Bangladesh and in other South Asian countries”.

Injecting new ideas

To realise that dream, he is experimenting with educational technology – software like Webex, which can connect teachers with students remotely via a webcam and projector, and Smartboard, a sort of electronic syllabus that can be used in areas with no Internet connectivity.

“This is still running on a pilot project. A board contains a syllabus from KG to Class 12. Only a computer operator is required to click on the board that will provide the lessons to students in the classroom,” he said.

Equipment was donated by digital content distributor Core Knowledge. JAAGO Foundation also receives support from the government, the UN Developmental Programme (UNDP), UN Habitat, Global Fund for Children, World Bank and the private sector.

But teachers’ pay and education expenses come primarily from sponsorships, according to Rakshand.

“The sponsorship model is very simple. Anybody can support education of any of these children at Tk 1,500 or $20 per month. 80% to 90% of our funds come from the sponsorship model,” he said.

Rakshand says that before launching his own organisation; he approached existing schools, and found them resistant to change and new ideas.

“My point to them was to initiate a school that would provide the education to these underprivileged children in English as, although this is a second language in Bangladesh, this would really help them when they go abroad for jobs or even look for work here. These people I went to thought I am crazy,” he told Khabar.

His unorthodox thinking is a welcome challenge to the status quo, one observer says.

“JAAGO’s initiatives are definitely having a positive impact on the education system in Bangladesh,” said Nazim Farhan Choudhury, managing director of Adcomm Limited, an advertising firm, in Dhaka.

“In fact, the initiative of taking English education to the grassroots has changed the paradigm of education entirely in Bangladesh,” he added.

Source: Khabar South Asia