Aparajeyo project, Pallabi

Another visit to a slum education project, this time run by Aparajeyo Bangladesh. This project has daycare centres, a nursery, "Centre Based Education" for primary classes 1-6 (for children of minimum ages 6-11), and a coaching group for older children who attend a public or private school. The organisation also pays 50 per cent of fees for children who progress from their project to secondary school. In total 401 children are enrolled. Apparently none are working; there is another Aparajeyo project which targets working children. The centre has children's management groups which identify problems and discuss solutions with the managers, and once a week is 'Children's Day,' when the children get to run the centre themselves.

This project was really interesting, although due to my bad planning and shortage of time, the visit was the worst kind of flying visit — a stage-managed glimpse of how the project runs with very little depth of insight. Hoping to return there during one of the Children's Days to see how that works.