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Back to Back to School Project Bangladesh has a very Change the future sults, more and more students wanted to participate and
good network of schools at all levels. Children can
today there are more than 200 students, 20 teachers and
The local manual recognized extreme poverty in his
receive education at very little or no cost. Yet the-
re are families who do not see the opportunities village of Gonopaddi, an agro-based and underdeveloped computer training programs for the basic courses. Stu-
dents up to and including class 4 are taught by students
district on India’s electronic border. Most children in this
School that education offers. They focus on short-term region are drop-out students. Many families do not have of the higher class. Pupils from group 5 come to the main
profits and allow children to drop out of school to
enough to eat. The lack of education leads to this poverty
building to attend lectures given by regular teachers.
work in the household or on the farm. That is why
The Choice founded the Back to School Project because they cannot sustain themselves in the long run. Make your own change
Help was needed to change the social and economic
together with a manufacturer in 2007. situation. Together with the manufacturer, The Choice helps these
children to transfer money themselves. Today there are
Stimulating children’s potential no real school leavers in Gonopaddi and all children are
The Back to School Project noticed these problems included in the Back to School Project. They have become
and created a program aimed at dropout students. The their own change agents with the ability to transform the
philosophy of the program is to transform each child Sherpur district for a brighter future.
into their own change agent. It is
not limited to learning; it is also
aimed at boosting one’s potential.
Good practice, helping others
and living a healthy life are all
part of the project. The goal is to
instill self-esteem and value of
education in children so that they
can influence the economic scenario
and engage in social welfare. The
Back to School Project has started
a huge development; some group 1
students who started the program
ten years ago are now studying at
the university. These original school
leavers aspire to become doctors, In the poverty-stricken village of Gonopoddi, most students learn
engineers, ministers or parliamen- English by memorizing exercises from their textbooks. After twelve
tarians rather than work in the years, most of them still cannot understand and read English. The
household or on the farm. Back to School English Club was established to help these students
– ranging from grades six to grades eleven – develop the English
Success of the project language. Two months after the start of the club, the students have
The first year of the Back to School let go of their fears and are fully committed to learning English,
Project started with twenty students driven by their enthusiasm to overcome illiteracy.
with only two teachers. Unlike
mainstream schools, there were Goals of the initiative
incentives to go to school: free eggs • Improve students’ understanding and communication skills in
and biscuits and extracurricular ac- English.
tivities to develop other social and • Improve their ability to network.
cultural skills. They also received • Develop leadership qualities in students.
soap and toothpaste for health and • Progression students in the field of technology.
hygiene. Because of the great re-
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