Survey piloting - 2

Korail

A short boat trip away from BRAC Centre, Korail is the city's largest single slum.


Rent is around Tk. 900 (£7) per month. People cook on shared earth stoves and get water either from tubewells or communal taps.



We visited this small kindergarten, run by one of the slum's land owners. It went up to grade 2 but the children were aged up to at least 10. The government school is about 1 hour's walk away and difficult to get in to. Having finished at the kindergarten most of these children are unlikely to make the transition to further schooling. Fees here are Tk. 500 (£4) for registration, Tk. 150 (£1) per month tuition, Tk. 100 for grade 1 exam fees, Tk. 200 for grade 2 exam fees. Salaries for full-time teachers are Tk. 1000 (£8) per month.

There are also a number of small NGO schools in the area.


Though basic the school seemed well maintained, and was covered with instructional posters.

Cholontika Cluber Bastee, Mirpur

This turned out to be the really bad slum where I visited a BRAC school a week ago. Typical rent in the slum was Tk. 600-800 (£4-6). Each toilet was shared by 18 households. They got water from shared tubewells.

We spoke to one woman who was a landlord, owning 12 houses in the slum as well as her own (suggesting an income of around Tk. 8-9000 per month). She sent her daughter to an RNGPS where fees were: 1640 enrolment; 160 Tk per month tuition; 80 Tk exam fees. She had also spent Tk. 5000 on books and uniforms.