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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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