BACK TO SCHOOL who started with the program ten
years ago are now attending university. These original school drop-outs strive to become a doctor, engineer, minister or parliamentarian instead of working in the household or farming.
Success of the project The first year of the Back to School Project started with twenty students. Initially, there were only two teachers. The students were split up into grade 1 and grade 2 classes. Since there were only a few students per class to manage, the lectures were very effective. Unlike regular schools there were incentives for attendance: free eggs and biscuits, free soap and toothpaste to stimulate health and hygiene, and
Back to School Project Bangladesh has a very good network of primary and intermediate secondary schools, and higher secondary colleges. Families can get education for their kids at a very low or no cost. Yet there are families who don’t see the opportunities education brings. They focus on the short term gains and choose to let children work in the household or farming. Even though this means they drop out of school. That is why The Choice founded the Back to School Project together with a manufacturer in 2007.
extra and co-curricular activities to develop other social and cultural skills. The first results were tremendous. More and more students were eager to join the school in the years that followed. Today, there are more than two hundred students, twenty teachers, and computer training programs for the basic courses. The scope of the school has expanded to grade 12. Students up to grade 4 are scattered across ten satellite places in the village getting lessons from
Change the future The manufacturer, who owns a local factory,
higher grade students. Students
Stimulating children’s potential
from grade 5 attend the main
The Back to School Project noticed these
school building to follow lectures,
recognized extreme poverty in Gonopad-
problems and created a program focused
given by regular teachers.
di. This village is located in Sherpur, an
on drop-out students. The philosophy of
agro-based and underdeveloped district
the program is to transform each child into
198 kilometers from Dhaka at the norther
Make your own change
its own change agent. It’s not limited to
Together with the manufacturer
border with India. Most of the kids in this re-
learning; it’s also focused on stimulating
The Choice helps these children to
gion are drop-out students and families do
one’s potential. Good practices, helping
make their own change. Nowadays
not have enough to eat. The lack of educati-
others, and living a healthy life, are all part
there are no real school drop-outs
on leads to this poverty, because eventually
of the project. The goal is to teach children
in Gonopoddi. All children have
uneducated children become a liability for
self-worth as well as value of education so
been included in the Back to School
themselves and their village. They are not
they can influence the economic scenario
Project. They have become their
able to support themselves in the long run.
and engage in societal welfare. The Back
own change agents with the ability
Help was needed in order to change the
to School Project has kickstarted a huge
to transform the Sherpur-district for
social and economic condition.
development; some of the grade 1 students
a better future.
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