Background
Help The Poor Foundation (HTPF) is a charity
organization in
Bangladesh
. The organization is located at House #25 Road #4A Sector #5, Uttara,
Dhaka
,
Bangladesh
. This foundation is a small
family foundation led by
Habibur Rahman
, who is a returned NRB businessman for the last few years. His entire
family lives abroad. As a semi-retiree person now, he started the
foundation in 2003 for helping poor rural people in their basic education
and healthcare needs. Its operation has been around:
§
Stipends:
6 stipends given to 3 high school boys and 3 high schools girls since
2003. The stipends are only given to grades 8, 9 and 10 students. Four of
these students have appeared in SSC examination this year and all are
expected to pass. The 4 outgoing students have been replaced with another
4 students and 1 new stipend was added in 2005. A stringent selection
process is used in order to pick the most suitable candidates. This
process includes, but not limited to, in each of Kashba High and
Kashba
Girls
Schools
:
o
Report
from the school headmasters about 5 top students from each grade
o
Comprehensive
background check of all 15 students about their socio-economic conditions
and the list is brought down to 10
o
Final
interview by a board created by Help The Poor Foundation members and
school teachers to choose the final stipend recipients
o
The
selection process so far has allowed the foundation to choose suitable
candidates. Once they receive the stipends, their educational progress is
tracked by a foundation member every three months. The stipend only
continues if their progress meets a good level of expectation.
§
Free
Medicine Distribution: A monthly fiesta of free medicine distribution is carried out in the
village
of
Kashba
, whereby various ill and suffering poor people are given out free
medicines. This program has not been that organized and the foundation
plans to expand it with the help of other larger healthcare organizations
in future.
A
few important characteristics of Help The Poor Foundation are:
-
The
foundation is formed with clear goals and objectives and a vision to reach
out basic education and healthcare to everyone in its vicinity
-
The
target beneficiaries are the most underprivileged, poor members of the
society
-
It is a
fully-registered organization with Bangladesh Government’s ministry of
Social Welfare and has a non-profit social organization status
-
It is
operated completely by the “Rahman” family members and so far has been
funded by NRB and local family members
-
As a
small organization, there is absolutely zero overhead of the foundation
with nobody taking any regular salary or remuneration of any kind from the
foundation
-
It has
managed to gain visibility in local Rajbari district and respect of local
people by operating as a “true” welfare organization
-
It has
simple organizational structure with no bureaucracy, or unnecessary delays
through process complications and so forth (which is often typical in
Bangladesh
)
.
Following are some statistics from Kashba HS
and Kashba GS
|
Kashba
high School
|
|
|
Item
|
Statistics
|
|
A.
|
Status
|
Private and fully
approved by Board of Education
|
|
B.
|
Grades
|
6 – 10 (SSC
examination after completion of 10)
|
|
C.
|
Groups
|
A total of three
groups in grades 9 and 10:
1.
Science
2.
Humanities
3.
Commerce
|
|
D.
|
Government Support
|
80% teacher’s
salary; 20% by school funds
|
|
E.
|
Students Body
|
Total: 405, by
groups in grades 9 and 10:
1.
Science:
15
2.
Humanities:
40
3.
Commerce:
56
|
|
F.
|
Teaching Staff
|
13 full-
tim
e
|
|
G.
|
Library Condition
|
Poor
|
|
H.
|
Laboratory Condition
|
Poor
|
|
I.
|
Computing Condition
|
1 subject and 1
instructor, but no computer
|
|
J.
|
Building Details
|
Two-storied building
with:
A.
10 class rooms
B.
1 Headmaster’s room
C.
1 Teachers’ room
|
|
K.
|
Rate of
SSC
Pass
|
2003: 40%
2004: 32%
|
|
L.
|
Rate Student Drop
Out
|
15 – 20% from grades 6 – 10
|
|
Kashba girls’ school
|
|
|
Item
|
Statistics
|
|
A.
|
Status
|
Private and fully
approved by Board of Education
|
|
B.
|
Grades
|
6 – 10 (SSC
examination after completion of 10)
|
|
C.
|
Groups
|
A total of three
groups in grades 9 and 10:
4.
Science
5.
Humanities
6.
Commerce
|
|
D.
|
Government Support
|
80% teacher’s
salary; 20% by school funds; All students receive funds from
Government, but not sufficient for them
|
|
E.
|
Students Body
|
Total: 346, by
groups in grades 9 and 10:
4.
Science:
7
5.
Humanities:
94
6.
Commerce:
16
|
|
F.
|
Teaching Staff
|
12 full-
tim
e
|
|
G.
|
Library Condition
|
There is no book at
all!
|
|
H.
|
Laboratory Condition
|
Very poor
|
|
I.
|
Computing Condition
|
No subject,
instructor or computer
|
|
J.
|
Building Details
|
One-storied building
with:
A.
8 class rooms
B.
1 Headmaster’s room
C.
1 Teachers’ room
D.
1 Students’ common room
|
|
K.
|
Rate of
SSC
Pass
|
2003: 41%
2004: 35%
|
|
L.
|
Rate Student Drop
Out
|
30 – 35% from grades 6 – 10
|
Objective
The objective of this ‘dot’ project is to
improve the educational opportunities of the children. The High School
will be equipped with donated computers, and Agami will pay for training
of the computer teacher. The Girls’ School will have a library stocked
with books and shelves paid for by Agami
Status
Too early to have any concrete results
Goals/Challenges
Too early to mention
|
