Adult Literacy Classes and Village Primary Schools

RED International is excited to see how HRDP’s adult and children educational work in rural Bangladesh has expanded in the past year.

There are now 15 adult literacy classes, 12 primary schools for class three, and 15 primary schools for class one to three in different places in northern Bangladesh. In total, HRDP’s teachers and supervisors look after 660 primary school students (each class has 30 students) and 300 literacy students (with 20 students to a class).

Here are two stories one from a young pupil and one from an adult student:

Lily’s* story

“I’m Lily*. I have six brothers and sisters. I’m the fourth one. My family is not an educated family. My older 3 brothers are not educated; they work with my father as a day labourer. I thought, I can’t go to school anymore, I have to work with my mother at home.

One day my father was invited to a meeting near our house. It was about a new school being established in our village, and all materials and expenses will be provided. I can’t share how much joy there was that day! My parents told me girls don’t need to go school, you just need to learn only Arabic to read Quran and pray. But finally I had an opportunity to go to school. Now I am in class 3. I finished grade 1 and 2 very well.

This is my last year at this school, and then I will be admitted to another school in class 4. I also learn many songs and I learn dance from this school. And after my school every day I help my mother at home and take care of my younger brother and sister, I’m so happy with my life. In my life I have a dream after my graduation I want to be a teacher.”

Shakara’s* story

“My name is Shakara*, I have two children. My husband is a day labourer. Due to river erosion, we lost our house and land. Now it is quite difficult for us to live but we are managing ok.

I have a dream that my children will be educated. I did not go to the school in my childhood. I married very young because my parents told me girls do not need to go to school. But now I can feel my lack of education when my children have a problem with their homework studies, and when people ask me I always feel shy.

Thanks to HRDP, now I am able to help my children at home. My daughter is studying at an HRDP primary school and I’m studying at HRDP literacy school. It makes me so happy, I feel like I’m also student and I did not have to archive my goal to study. Now I’m teaching my husband, how he can write his signature, and also helping my husband and I’m keeping account expenses and managing income. In our class we are 20 students. We are learning so many new things not only about studies also about life and family management.”

HRDP continues to work towards transforming communities for people who are not getting many educational opportunities. HRDP provides free educational materials and support for all their students. In the beginning of 2018 HRDP plans to start 15 new primary schools and 15 new literacy classes.

RED International will cease to exist as a separate UK charity from the end of 2017 and so we will be closing our GlobalGiving project pages. We are working with all our current implementing partners to ensure that their valuable work continues to be supported by other means. If you would like to continue giving to the work of HRDP in Bangladesh, please contact the RED International office at enquiry@redinternational.org and we can advise you of the alternative options.

Thank you so much for your support of HRDP through GlobalGiving and RED International. You have helped many adults and children, like Lily and Shakara, take those valuable steps out of poverty by gaining an education.

Once this project has closed on GlobalGiving you can continue to follow the work of HRDP via this link:-  http://homeworktohomework.org  

*names changed