The atmosphere was vibrant, lively and also full of anxiousness. The weather was hot and humid, with a breeze blowing to poise the chills running down everybody's spine. At first sight, we gave everybody a hug after seeing them after a long summer and Ramadan break. You might have guessed it by now. It was the typical first day of school.
As we entered our designated classrooms a murmur suddenly started. It would not take much time for everybody to settle down. Within a few minutes, the classroom transformed into a jukebox, with everybody starting to gossip about how they spent their Eid days. The main point of conversation was, as one can imagine in this ludicrous lucrative world, was 'salaami' or in other words, Eidi money.
One person started off by saying that he had 'earned' 4000 taka on the auspicious day, and with each voice that followed, the sum grew bigger and bigger. Suddenly, a friend shouted in the background that he had received Tk 20,000. Time stood still as our mouths dropped and we all gaped at him. Another person in the group, suddenly inquired, "What are you going to do with 'soooooo' much money?" He replied by saying, "This is what you call "soooooo" much! I received more money last time." Suddenly, the well-recognised face of Dudley from the infamous Harry Potter series appeared at the back of my head and with it ran the line, '36 presents! But last year, I had 37!'
To these people money had no value. They didn't understand how many people, especially the unprivileged ones, had to work to earn even a quarter of their Eidi money. Well, let me just give you an idea: an average worker after toiling for 12 hours each day for 26 days of the month, receives 5 grand. That amasses to 312 out of the 720hours, in a thirty-day month. Most people only sleep that much of time during the month!
After a few seconds he said that he would buy a few PS3 games with the money. I sighed. Maybe at this moment of time his family was financially sound and everything was going well, but good things don't always last long. So, why not save this valuable money and keep it for a time of desperation, for example when you are in university and you need to buy a laptop, or when you need to pay your tuition fees; or for example, when you're preparing yourself for a job. A student banking account would help you to do this.
The next day I visited a local school in Dhaka. It wasn't a posh one like mine, but neither a slum school. I entered the class and asked the teacher whether or not I could ask the children a few questions. He replied positively and so the second part of my survey began. The first boy I interviewed was a scrawny fellow. I asked him how much money he had received this Eid, his parents' occupation, etc. Within two minutes I found out that he had received Tk 500 this Eid, his father was a cobbler and his mother was a garment worker. All the children that came in after him had a similar story, and had one thing in common: their Eidi money did not exceed half a thousand taka. I asked the children what they planned to do with the money. The girls replied by saying they would buy some cosmetics, while the boys said they wanted to buy some snacks.
After I completed the survey, I compared the children of my school with the ones in the local school. Surprisingly, in the two parts of the survey, I had found that there was nobody who had saved their money or who had used it for something meaningful. I realised that the reading my survey had given me was not a coincidence. This might have been the condition in all the schools around Bangladesh, amassing hundreds of crores (billions) of taka lost to un-purposeful spending.
In the old days, money would be saved within bamboo shoots and piggy banks, but now they are just for show and used in banking advertisements. In this money-swindling world, the habit of saving, for what is important, is becoming extinct like the pandas. In a typical fairy tale, after bad times come the good. But most people have found out the hard way that life is not a bed of roses, and thus, one should always be prepared to see the revival of the dark ages. A savings account would help to do this.
The idea I promoted as I mentioned above, is a student banking account, for keeping all your Eidi money, birthday money and pocket money. Globally, this type of account has had its achievements, with world-renowned banks such as the Barclays Bank (England), Commonwealth Bank (Australia) and HSBC having taken up the idea. The bank will offer a beneficial interest rate, higher than the other deposit schemes, along with further facilities. As a result, students and their parents will be encouraged to continue their respective deposit schemes.
Along with the children, both the public and private banks can be hugely benefited if they physically approach the students and their parents, due to the number of people involved in the sector. In most students' eyes the student banking scheme will figure as a good idea, since in a country like ours parents do not want their children to spend their saved money. As a result, the money is just kept or used for something not entirely important. In this case, the money will increase in amount during the time it is kept in the bank.
Another good idea is to try to invest this huge amount of (students') money in social businesses, such as Professor Yunus's Grameen Bank and other ventures, where business defies the laws of entrepreneurship and does not involve profit. In a social business, the profit does not go to the people handling the money, as in the case of banks, but to the people who had given the money. So basically, the more the company grows the more money the investors, in this case students, will receive. But, the students will only be given the money when they need it, for example, for education-related expenses when they are in university, college, etc. The social business will also be able to give the student a job after he has finished university or is in need of one, and support his family when they are not very economically sound. For example, many of the children of the women members of Grameen Bank have been given financial support in the form of scholarships, for pursuing higher education.
This article will not have any meaning unless organisations such as Grameen Bank and other public/private banks in our country come forward. It will not have any meaning unless children actually start saving their money. The student education platform is a threshold to an entire new business idea; which may be responsible for the birth of a totally different nation. A nation exempt of poverty, illiteracy and desperation. Now, the choice lies in the hands of the superiors: Will they take the doorway or just stay in the same room?
The writer is a student of Sunbeams School. Email: tahseen_cricket@hotmail.com
© 2026 - All Rights with The Financial Express
