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.

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.

Cox's Bazaar / St Martin's Island

Showing my commitment to keeping a close eye on my ongoing survey, decided to take a long weekend holiday to Cox's Bazaar - a popular and slightly overdeveloped beach resort - and St Martin's Island - a pretty and largely undeveloped island with no electricity or cars.


Cheeky mouse hiding behind my pillow in the beach hut on St Martin's Island. He kept popping out to try and eat our bananas.