Nelson Mandela once said, "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Although Bangladesh managed to achieve significant progress in primary education in terms of initial enrolment and through distribution of free textbooks, it is still seen that the dropout rate is very high. According to the official website of the UNICEF, in spite of the high enrolment rate in primary education (about 79.5 per cent), only 46 per cent of the boys and 53 per cent of the girls finally enrol for high school education which is very alarming for us. Among the challenges which are impeding this progress are the lack of motivation, poverty and discrimination at the primary level of education. But it is believed that most of these problems can be overcome by putting social efforts.
Driven by this sense of social responsibility and being unable to deny these unuttered problem of people in need, Madaripur Social Service Club (MSSC) was founded on June 13, 2013 by a group of enthusiastic young people with one goal in mind - to help people in need and create a strong base for charitable work in Madaripur. Since then the club has taken many successful initiatives as a part of their commitment. One of their prime initiatives is called "Project Schooling". The objective is to give new school bags to underprivileged students at primary schools in rural areas at the beginning of their academic year in order to have them a better school experience and inspire them towards educational life. On January 6 last in the 4th phase of the project 500 children were given new school bags to start their academic year with. This practice has been there since 2014.
"Dr. K.R. Ahmed Rifat, co-founder and president of MSSC, said, "We started this initiative in 2014 by giving 100 new school bags to children; then in 2015 the number was raised to 300, later on we distributed 200 bags in 2016 and this year we handed over school bags to 500 children". The handover programme this year took place at Sadhinota Angan, Lake Par of Madaripur in a very festive mood on January 6 last. All the children were very happy to receive new bags for their school.
Istiaque Ahmed Shawon, cofounder and organising secretary of MSSC, expressed his feeling saying, "We are trying to motivate students to be regular in school under this initiative. This bag is not any alms but it's a small step towards a big future. Those, who are getting new school bags at the beginning of the year along with their new books, really feel inspired to be regular in school and to learn in class as well ".
One of the thankful recipients named Jannat said, "Now I am able to take my books, pens and other stuffs in this bag and it will help me to go to school regularly even on a rainy day. Thanks for MSSC for taking such an initiative."
When asked about the Project Schooling, club members explained how they were running it. At first a number is fixed for giving bags. The district is divided into several zones. Then based on exploration, site visits and communications with the school authorities and parents, potential deserving students are enlisted. The list is often reviewed in view of other factors not considered to ensure maximum fairness. Sometimes, the local authorities extend their helping hands to find out the underprivileged students. As per the club's policy new areas and schools are given priority. All these planning and listing often take months. Once the list is finalised, then it is time for making a budget for the project. After that comes the most important thing--the fund raising. Most of the donations come from the club members, who give monthly fees to the club fund. Apart from that, the club reaches out to the people who are interested in social work and collects donations. Very often other interested people come to the club and express their willingness to help as well. One of them is Mohammad Chowdhury, living in the USA. While elaborating about how he found out the MSSC and why he works with this club, he said, "I have seen this club's activities on Facebook and I was very surprised to see that my younger cousin (Chowdhury Foyzul Alam) was working with this club as the Secretary of Project Planning & Implementation. Then, I talked to the president of this club and knew about all their initiatives. This was the beginning and I wish I will always be a part of MSSC for the rest of my life!"
There are people too who cannot donate money but are very egger to do something for the society. It is said from the club that they welcome almost anyone and everyone having a good intension to work with them. The large volunteer group which is a very vital part of the organisation mostly consists of high school and college students residing in Madaripur. They help the club a great deal in organising and implementing any project. Muhit is one of such volunteers. He joined the MSSC in 2014. He thinks it is very important to engage young people like him in social development work. He said, "I have been working for establishment of child rights since 2013 as a member of National Children Taskforce and to me MSSC is a platform where I love to work for children"
Asaduzzaman Nur, co-founder and treasurer of MSSC, said, "The organisation is planning to extend its activities and services both by number and degree in coming days".
Moniruzzaman Khan Jony, co-founder and vice president of MSSC, said, "All the members of this club believe that it is their due responsibility to do something positive and impactful for the society and encourage other people to do so". They expressed their hope that their positive actions towards the betterment of people would spread throughout the society like a ripple effect and would influence other people to develop positive attitude towards underprivileged members of the society. Istiaque Ahmed Shawon and Dr. K.R Ahmed Rifat jointly coordinated the 4th phase of the Project Schooling this year.
Another co-founder and secretary general of this club, Dr. Ashraful Alam Khan, in his concluding remarks talked about the vision and dreams they have for the club. He said, "We'll continue our three projects every year. One is Project Schooling, second one is Project NatunJama and third one is Project Ushnota. If anyone is interested to join us, please visit our official Facebook page and let us know about your interest, we'll reach you soon".
The writer recently graduated from Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology on Electrical and Electronic Engineering. He is a co-founder of Madaripur Social Service Club.
Email: chowdhuryfakrul2178@gmail.com
A small step toward big future
Chowdhury Fakrul Alam | Published: January 28, 2017 00:00:00 | Updated: January 27, 2017 20:21:16
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