Project Comilla

Background

Objective

            Status

Goals/Challenges

Background

Gono Uddog Balika Uccha Biddalaya (GUBUB), a girls’ high school in a remote village in Bangladesh, was established in 1996.  The school is located in Khila Bazar of Comilla district, southeast from the capital city Dhaka. Bus and train from Dhaka connect this location. It is a secondary high school offering courses from Class VI to X guided by the government’s curriculum.  Current enrolment is about 350 students.  The school provides basic secular education to girls of 11-16 years.

The community in the vicinity of the school is composed of farmers.  Most people are under-employed.  Literacy rate is around 50%, and nearly 80% of the families are below the poverty level.  The children of these poor families do not have to work and the parents are willing to help and support these disadvantaged children for their education.

A brick building has been built for the school.  It houses all the basic facilities such as classrooms, library, bathrooms, supply rooms, etc.  The school currently employs 9 qualified and experienced teachers.  A governing body runs the school. The school used to be run from a number of run-down CGI (corrugated galvanized iron) shacks, which had been flooded.

The enrolled students are required to take and pass regular examinations, as outlined by the government’s curriculum, which is the major criterion for their success and promotion to the higher class/grade. Before their graduation from the school, the students are required to take the Secondary School Examination (SSC) administered by an accredited education board.

Objectives

Phase I: Jan – Dec 2004

In the first phase, we treated Comilla as a ‘dot’ project – a project with limited scope and impact. Our goals were easily defined, and measured. We provided GUBUB with the following:

•     90 scholarships (18 per class x 5 classes)

•      Books

•      School supplies & uniforms

•      Fees for 10 SSC candidates

•      Science laboratory equipment

 Phase II: September 2005 – August 2006

At this time, we have decided to try to make GUBUB a centre of educational excellence. In this age of globalization, one of the biggest challenges Bangladesh faces is the drastic deterioration of the quality of education, especially in rural areas. For that reason, the GUBUB governing body planned to initiate an “Education Movement” in Laksam and its adjoining areas, using Gono Uddog Balika Uccha Biddalay as a flagship institution. The purpose of the movement is to enhance the standard of education and to create opportunity of education for all. The Education Movement would include motivating students, teachers and parents, mobilizing general people and the elites of the area.  The Hunger Project volunteers will carry out the mobilization and motivational works. The idea has already been discussed with local elites and relevant government officials and their support is enlisted.  

The first step toward fomenting the movement will be to develop GUBUB as an “ideal” institution offering high quality of education. To ensure the quality of education at the school, we need to develop facilities, provide logistic support, and improve the teachers’ skills. We need to hire at least two skilled teachers, one for English and another for science. 

Subsequently, GUBUB will be used for training teachers of other schools of greater Laksam.  Teachers will be brought in for both theoretical and on-the-job training, afterward returning to their school to teach. Agami has decided to extend its helping hand in the following areas to develop GUBUB as an “ideal” school.

•           Teachers’ training course  
  

•        for 6 teachers, pay for transportation, food and lodging
  

•        training at Mohammadpur Preparatory School & College
  

•        these teachers will then train others at GUBUB
  

•         Computers & training course – for 2 PCs, printer, maintenance, trained instructor
  

•         Development of computer training course curriculum 
  

•         Appointment of 2 additional teachers (English and Science)

The proposed budget (in Bangladesh Takas) for Phase II is as follows:

BUDGET FOR 2^ND PHASE

Status

In FY06, Agami funded two computer purchases for GUBUB which generated a lot of interest and enthusiasm among the students as it was the first time they actually got a chance to work with a computer. In September of 2006 the school introduced a computer course for the first time and a computer instructor was hired by the school. In January 2007, the school formally introduced a computer course following the syllabus of National Council of Text Book under the Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board. A few members of the Comilla Education Board visited the computer lab for evaluation of the facility and were very satisfied. The school is expecting approval by the Comilla Board which would allow the school to offer the computer course to SSC students as an elective to their SSC exam.

Agami’s impact can be measured both tangibly and intangibly. One of the most tangible results has been that 13 girls have passed their SSC exams. One has received an A grade and three have received A-. This is one of the best results for a rural school, and we are extremely proud of the girls’ achievements. More importantly, their sense of pride and self-worth has increased tremendously. They are now proceeding to Class XI and XII, which is almost unheard of for village girls. The receipt of books and uniforms has encouraged the students to attend school more regularly and be more attentive in their studies. The lab equipment has increased the opportunity for doing experiments. Poorer parents now have some incentive to send their children to school. We have also noticed that the teachers are more inspired and are giving extra attention to the students. This has a direct benefit in terms of how well the students performed in their exams.

In terms of lasting infrastructure effects, we are proud of the computer lab, library and science lab that we set up for the girls. We are also in the process of defining and launching an ambitious 3-year computer curriculum that we feel will make the students quite technically savvy and ready for a technical job, vs. a traditional vocational pursuit like the garment industry.

The actual expenses for CY2004 were as follows:

Goals/Challenges