Project Madaripur

Background

            Objective

            Status

Goals/Challenges

Background

Shireen Jahan Memorial Girls’ High School (SJMGHS) was established in 1996. It was started with financial support from the founder and generous donations from well-wishers. Mr. M. Azizur Rahman, a retired Secretary of the Govt. of Bangladesh (GOB), was the founder of this school. The GOB has recognized the school and now is helping with monthly payments to the school for students up to Class VIII.

The school is located in Itkhola Baijitpur, PO: Dhurail Khalashi Kandhi, adjacent to Charmugaria of Madaripur district, south from the capital city Dhaka . Roads and rivers from Dhaka connect to this location, which takes a few hours for one-way travel. The school serves an area of about 3 square kilometres. This is a secondary high school offering courses from grade VI to X guided by the government’s curriculum.  Current enrolment is about 300 students.  The school provides basic secular education to girls aged 11-16 years. Part of its mission is to create awareness amongst the village girls about the importance of education and empowerment.

The population of this village is about 1000; however, the village is surrounded by four other villages and can easily be reached on foot - the most common means of travel in rural Bangladesh . During the rainy season, one cannot move about without a boat.

The literacy rate is at such a low level that it is not worth noting. These girls usually help their parents doing house chores or working in the agriculture fields. No other girls’ high schools are within 10 miles of this particular area, although there are two junior high schools and one high school located within about 2 to 3 miles which support co-education. SJMGHS serves the purpose of educating only the female students in a conservative area. Without SJMGHS, these girls would go without any formal education beyond grade V.

The current infrastructure includes one 60 ft x 22 ft building with a roof made of tin sheet, one 40 ft x 22 ft structure (classrooms), a kachcha house (office and teachers’ room), two sanitary toilets, a 10 ft × 6 ft library room (to be developed as a school library). Currently there are eleven teachers including the Headmaster; three of whom are female teachers. There are three supporting staff members – the clerk, the bellman and a security guard.  A Managing Committee, consisting of seven members who are all enlightened and educated personalities of the area, manages the school.

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. Successful grades in the SSC examination is the key requirement for an admission to the next level education program in Bangladesh – a 2-year Higher Secondary School Certification ( HSC ); this curriculum is equivalent to the final 2 years of the US high school program.  A state-run education board administers the final HSC examination program in Bangladesh .

Objective

Phase I

As with Comilla, the Madaripur project was initially brought in as a ‘dot’ project. As such, the initial scope of the project was intentionally very limited. Agami was still refining its policies and practices. Thus, our goals for the Madaripur project included the following:

§         Upgrade library facilities for SJMGHS: we provided various pieces of library furniture like bookcases, reading tables; purchased five sets of textbooks, sixty books written by popular authors, and of historical significance; purchased maps and teaching aids like blackboards

§         Fees for 10 SSC candidates

Phase II

Phase I allowed us to gain some confidence in the operating procedures of the governing body of SJMGHS. Additionally, they learnt what type of reporting and accountability that we demanded in order to be as financially transparent as possible to our donors. In Phase II, we decided to undertake some tasks that would directly impact the students. As with the Comilla project, we decided to purchase uniforms for all the students. While this is not a common practice in America , it is back in Bangladesh . However, many of the village schools do not require their poor students to wear uniforms, simply because of the cost. It is well documented and we understand that having clean fresh uniforms is a tremendous morale boost for the students, and a source of pride. This alone can help get the students into the classroom. To go along with the uniforms, Agami provided school books for all the students, as well as school bags to carry their supplies in. These bags had the Agami logo embroidered onto them. The logo cost was almost nothing. However, it was a concerted effort on our behalf to start spreading our name within Bangladesh . We were thinking along the lines of starting a generation of children who would remember Agami for making school a reality for them. Last but not least, we instituted a system of merit-based scholarships for the top five students from each of the grades. There was a sliding scale created to increase the scholarship with their class rank, as well as their grade level. The idea of this was to spur some degree of competition within the students and make them aspire to higher levels of performance.

Phase III

The goal of this phase was to evolve the student learning and introduce them to computers.

Phase IV

The goal of this phase was to award scholarships to deserving students, as well as provide rewards to the top teachers. Both types of scholarships generates enthusiasm and encourages better performance.

Status

The Madaripur project has been a success for both Agami and SJMGHS. We have further streamlined our processes, and we feel very comfortable taking on bigger and more challenging projects. The school has benefited by gaining a library that can be used for years to come, possibly by thousands of students. Before this library, there was no place for girls to go to have access to a girls-only library. Consequently, most of the girls ended up not using any of the local libraries. Now, their learning horizons have been significantly expanded. On top of that, there are now numerous scholarships available. All the students also have their own uniforms, books and bags.

In 2005, Agami distributed Tk 214000 (~$3500 US) in the following manner for Phase II:

In the 3rd phase an amount of Tk 25,000 was allocated for training a teacher in computer applications. Due to unavoidable circumstances, this component of the 3rd phase could not be completed in due time. However, the training program has been completed. A female teacher from the school has undergone a three month training program in computer applications.  The program was arranged by the Bangla Academy in Dhaka . The candidate successfully completed the training program and has been awarded a certificate. The teacher is now back to school and using the lone computer the school already has.

In 2007, for Phase IV, the following scholarships were provided:

*** Ten students from each class (VI-X) were selected based on the previous annual examinations. The recipients from class VI were selected based on the results from previous primary/elementary school and the recipients from classes VII -X were selected solely based on their annual school final examinations

The teacher awards are tabulated below:

For teacher selection, Agami recommended a three-way evaluation process from school management, students and parents with equal weight to these three parties.

Latest news: The scholarship program was initiated in 2006. A good number of students who passed their S.S.C. examinations from this school were recipients of financial help from AGAMI. Many of them are now college. This is the power of education. These girls have been given a chance to make choices in their lives, to be in charge of their destiny.

Goals/Challenges

                                                        Figure 1 - Sabir Majumder addressing students

                                   Figure 2 - Students in school uniform, in front of school

Figure 3- Girls studying in library funded by Agami

Figure 4 – example of school bag with Agami logo