Home ›› 19 Oct 2021 ›› Nation
In the monsoon, mostly between June to October, school-going children living by the side of Atrai, Barnai, Nandakuja, Baral, Gumani and Gohala rivers encompassing the Natore, Pabna and Sirajganj districts are forced to forego their studies as their schools and homesteads go underwater.
Mostly between June to October, school-going children living by the side of Atrai, Barnai, Nandakuja, Baral, Gumani and Gohala rivers encompassing the Natore, Pabna and Sirajganj districts are forced to forego their studies as their schools and homesteads go underwater in the monsoon.
Mohammed Rezwan, who grew up in Northwestern Bangladesh, faced a similar situation in his childhood. All his friends and classmates were bound to stay at their marooned homesteads, while he alone could afford a boat to attend his school, which deeply saddened him.
“Many of my friends had dropped out of school while many others in my locality were deprived of elementary education because of the floods. With that in mind, when I graduated from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) and became an architect, it was my wish to go back to my roots and make a change,” Rezwan told The Business Post, explaining his journey.
With that thought and in an attempt to help the children of the flood-prone areas, Rezwan founded Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha in 1998 with only Tk 22,000 capital.
“I went to many influential and wealthy people for facilitation for four years, but none had helped me. Thus, I decided to start the operation on my own in 2002. I designed, made the boat and started operating,” said Rezwan.
However, in 2005, I was assisted by one of the world’s largest private charitable foundations, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and with their help, I have been able to provide education to thousands of children in the Rajshahi division, Rejwan further said.
His organisation provides a floating school service that mostly floats from the Bildaha area of Natore’s Singra upazila to different areas of Sirajganj provides elementary, vocational, and technological education to thousands of children and teens in the area.
The floating school service provides two types of education, elementary and vocational and consists of 26 boats. It is educating 2,340 primary students in three shifts every day. The organisation provides sewing lessons to 13,500 rural teens and women, computer lessons to 40,800 teens a year.
The organisation also conducts various recreational segments such as movies, games in two play-boats, which has a participation of 1,440 children.
“These activities are not only educating these rural youths but ensure a global exposure which enables them to learn about their surroundings as a whole,” Rezwan said. About 30 students can sit together at once in their classes in each of these 26 boats.
Around 2,340 students from the age limit of six to ten are attending classes under 78 teachers every day, he said.
“At the beginning, there were some problems. But now, the students are getting free books from the Upazila Education Offices. Around 21,290 children got primary education from the floating school between 2002 to 2021, said Madhusudan Karmakar, programme manager of the organisation,.
“Over 17 per cent of children who received their primary education from us are employed in renowned organisations, and the rest of them have become empowered through agriculture and different businesses,” Madhusudan said, adding that they have a drop-out rate of only 1.26 per cent, which is around 268 students.
Hasinur Rahman, a former student of the school, told The Business Post that he learned computer skills from the school, and now works as a software engineer at UCB Bank.
Husne Ara Tanjila, a teenage girl of Bildaha, said she is learning sewing from the school and hopes to establish her tailoring shop in the near future.
