A Journey from Rayerbazar to Virginia, USA
With the help of the ‘Sponsor a Child’ program, Jaago supports the education and well-being of its students Lelin Ahmed, a former student of Jaago Foundation school, is set to join the Community College Initiative in Virginia, the USA at Business Management and Administration – four years bachelor’s program – which is a scholarship program fully funded by the United States Congress.
Lelin is one of the first 17 students of the school. Having the opportunity to attend school was merely a possibility for Lelin considering his gardener father would often fall ill, but now he is on a journey to achieve his dreams, said a press release issued on Thursday.
After completing his education, Lelin plans to return to Bangladesh and said: “My overwhelming sense of thankfulness will always make me want to return to my country and give back tenfold to help my homeland flourish to even greater heights.”
Russel Syed has been Lelin’s sponsor parent for 10 years and has helped him complete his education at the Jaago Foundation school. Russel expressed how grateful he is to have been able to help a child in his home country while living in the USA.
“I am very proud that the person I have supported for so long is getting this incredible opportunity,”
shared Russel
“In Jaago’s early days, many people questioned what education would achieve for these children. What would we achieve by teaching them English? I might not have been able to give them an answer then. But today, 15 years later as Lelin leaves for the United States to pursue his higher education, he is our answer.”
said Korvi Rakshand, founder and executive director of Jaago Foundation.
Jaago has been providing free-of-cost quality education to underprivileged children following the English version of the NCTB curriculum since 2007.
Due to the educational quality gap in rural, urban, and hard-to-reach areas, Jaago began the idea of starting online classes in a blended approach with quality teachers based in Dhaka to provide quality education to these children through the innovative use of ICT.
A rural classroom is connected to a qualified teacher in Dhaka via video conferencing technology. It is about time that Bangladesh adopts this model and elevates the education system in this country.
In the face of the pandemic, we have seen how online learning could become a valuable and uninterrupted model for the future for thousands of children without access to quality education and teachers.
Today, 4500 students of Jaago across 11 districts have a better chance at life with the help of quality education. With the help of the “Sponsor a Child” program, Jaago supports the education and well-being of these students.
Then again, 1000 children are still unsponsored under Jaago, waiting on a parent to fulfill their dreams.